With great power comes great responsibility
With great power comes great responsibility; these words are spoken often but the meaning of them is frequently lost. What is power and how does one achieve it? This is a complicated question to answer. There is physical power measured by strength, there is political power measured by influence, and there is the power to make a difference in the lives of one person or many people. Power is not absolute and it must be checked to prevent disaster, history is filled with examples of the tragic result of the abuse of power.
Political Power
An advertisement ran on television the other day criticizing an elected official for being a career politician. This ad made it seem like representing people for a career is a bad thing. This can eventually happen to elected officials, however, a person can be a career politician and do it well for a long period of time. The most important thing about being an elected official is representing the views and interests of all the people who you represent. This job is a whole lot easier said than done. The people senators and representatives to congress speak for often have differing views. Is it the politician’s job to vote on behalf their constituents? What if the people they represent are evenly divide on an issue? A politician must make a decision of how to vote on complicated issues and live with his decision. How do we judge these representative? The easy answer is to vote. If the politician doesn’t accurately represent your views, become active in the election process. Support another candidate and encourage people to vote someone out of office. The best part of being an American is everyone’s vote matters and everyone has the opportunity to speak out. Freedom of speech is guaranteed and voting is a right given to all law abiding citizens. So to go back to the initial point, being a career politician can be a great thing. It means that this person has represented the views of the majority of the people they speak for. If that statement no longer holds true or you disagree, go and become active and get someone else elected.
The Power of Authority
Every week we hear about a police officer abusing power, how they are prejudiced against a certain group and how people get abused by the people whose job it is to protect us all. Why do we never hear about the great stories of heroism and bravery that police officers exhibit on a daily basis? The answer to this question is outrage gets better ratings on television and better response on the internet. Yes there are people who abuse the power they have as a police officer, but they do not represent the majority of police officers in the world. To protect and serve is the words that police officers strive to achieve and many of them live by this successfully. Many officers do great things in the community and help protect people in need so next time you hear about a person who abuses this power, judge them as an individual. Do not punish a whole department for the crimes of one person. Remember that the police are there to protect the community as a whole and do not alienate a whole group of people because of one individual’s mistake. Once again, if you believe there is a discrimination problem become involved. Meet with the police chief or city officials and do something about it in a constructive way. Be part of the solution and not part of the problem. Authority can be earned this way and more importantly, so is respect.
Being a Leader
Being a leader can be a very difficult job. Leaders are asked to make decisions for a group of people, often with limited information, and are held accountable for these decisions. So what makes a good leader? There is no easy way to answer this question. The first thing a quality leader should do is admit mistakes they make and try to learn from them. Failure can be a great teacher and when a leader refuses to admit failure they fail to learn and grow from the experience. No one is perfect and admitting fault is important to gain peoples trust for future decisions. What a true leader should always do is accept criticism and listen to those who disagree with them. A good leader compromises and never takes an absolute stance. Being open minded and listening to others allows people to better understand each other and fosters a community of respect. How many times in history has a dictator or a leader denied fault or placed blame on others? The answer is too many. Less than 100 years ago we saw what happens when a leader is absolute in their decisions. In addition, we saw what happens when this leader gets people to rally with them. It is easy to talk about peoples struggles and it is easy to create hate, blame, and to foster an environment of negativity. What is hard is coming together as a people to overcome are differences. We must learn from the mistakes that led to World War 2 and continue to take the more difficult task of coming together to bridge our differences. We need leaders who will not take the easy path of placing blame but will take the hard road of working together to create a better future.
Power is a word that is difficult to define. Many people believe power is having great authority, other believe having power is to have control. What we must never forget is having power is really about having responsibility. The responsibility to do the right thing and the responsibility to make a difference. Everyone has power, but not everyone uses it. So when you disagree with a law use your power to rally support to change it. If you see someone in need use your strength and power to aid them. Finally, never abuse your power, never be a bully, and never speak in absolutes.