I

April   28th

WANTS   MAKE    YOU A   SERVANT

“Tantalus:  The highest power   is—

Thyestes: No power, if you desire nothing.”

—SENECA,    THYESTES,    440

n the modern world, our interactions with tyranny are a bit more voluntary than they were in ancient
times. We put up with our controlling boss, though we could probably get a different job if we wanted.
We change how we dress or refrain from saying what we actually think? Because we want to fit in with
some cool group. We put up with cruel critics or customers? Because we want their approval. In these
cases, their power exists because of our wants. You change that, and you’re free.
The late fashion photographer Bill Cunningham occasionally declined to invoice magazines for his
work. When a young upstart asked him why that was, Cunningham’s response was epic: “If you don’t take
money, they can’t tell you what to do, kid.”
Remember: taking the money, wanting the money—proverbially or literally—makes you a servant to
the people who have it. Indifference to it, as Seneca put it, turns the highest power into no power, at least
as far as your life is concerned.