day no. 15,864: when helping hurts

“Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victim may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated, but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.” -- C.S. Lewis, God in the Dock: Essays on Theology

History has produced no greater villains than those who imagined themselves valiant. The worst bad guy is the one who thinks he is the good guy. For, like Lewis observed, he will never stop assailing you. His conscience will never compel him stop. It urges him on to greater atrocities. It fuels his insistence "to help."

"She's the sort of woman who lives for others—you can always tell the others by their hunted expression." -- C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

“The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: ‘I'm from the Government, and I'm here to help.’” — Ronald Reagan