We have been using Amazon Prime streaming video to watch Avatar: The Last Airbender, the Nickelodeon series. Something that I have seen about it that is interesting is the question of power. The quest for power.
The plot of most stories seems to involve a quest for power. Such as Avatar. But also, the fickleness and falseness of power. Which begs the question, why do people seem to want power.
Some of us aren’t interested in power over others, while some – certain politicians for example – seem drawn to it, almost for its own sake. Why, and why the difference?
Power is needed to make a difference. Why do we want to make a difference?
I am taking a master’s program in communication. One of the constant themes in communication is about power. So much of the literature in communications seems phrased in the language of power. Who should have it, how it is exercised, whether certain power relationships are good or bad and should be changed. Some of us in the classes have a natural distaste to seeing things always framed in the language of power. True, if it was framed in the language of other things, the power would still be there. But would it make a difference if we thought on other things besides power?
Thinking in other frames wouldn’t make power go away, but it would make a difference. If we think on other things (“whatsoever things are true,whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”) it will make a difference.
The other important element is to think on freedom. Much of the use of power is phrased in a language of doing good for people. But we are really limited in how much we can do for other people. The more we do for people the less they become. If we want them to be all they can be, we have to allow freedom. A government, a family, an organization, can protect too much.
Which comes back to limiting power over others, and giving power to others.
So the next time someone suggests exercising power for someone’s good, take a close look at how much good is being given, and how much freedom and potential is being take away in exchange.
At The Rainbow 