Power

Loads of different kinds of power in the world.

Most think, physical, politics. The kind that Uncle Lee has, well... That's pretty close to Godhood ain't it?

There are other kinds. Beauty, the ability to persuade, Money. Whilst money is a force by itself. The ability to buy whatever one's heart desires is a kind of power. Technology. In fact, anything with an ability to affect someone else's world is power. The difference? Magnitude.

And with magnitude, comes responsibility. Bruce Almighty was an amazing movie. Funny, of course, Jim Carrey is always funny. But there was an enormous thought that laid under that slapstick humour, that I reckon most of the movie go-ers missed.

If you asked for power, are you ready to take on the responsibility of that same power?

There is always a cost. Always a flipside to everything. Welcome to the real world. Many desire beauty. Or tons of cash. Goodness knows enough people have died to put someone else on a fancy gilded chair (I say, just go Ikea. I'm sure you can DIY a throne, somewhere). Too often, we see the glamour, or the fun, and not the dark side of power, the COST.

Most people want to be beautiful. The flip side? An alienation from the "common masses". It must suck to have half the people one meets reduced to gibbering bags of hormones. Can't get a decent conversation going to save your life. End up attracting 101 sleaze bags, or jerks. It takes a lot of effort to be centre of attention, doesn't it?

Too much money? Too much political power? Simple. Who are your real friends?

Often, people who have power tend to lonliness, or hang with the rest who are similar. In a certain paradox, the person who can best wield power, is also the one who rejects it, and it becomes a necessary burden. Those of you who doubt, consider reading the Parafaith War by L.E. Modesitt Jr.

Overwhelming intelligence? Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card. Real life examples? Da Vinci, Picasso, Einstein even. When one cannot balance the enormous burden of power, one tends towards eccentricity.

My thoughts are that there are 2 ways one can deal with power. Find your balance. Internal or external. Understand that there are concepts bigger than even the enormous burden you are given, and use that power the way one might use a gift. Pray hard for wisdom and for strength to use it. Consider this, that the strongest, greatest, biggest, most POWERFUL creations in nature, are also almost always the most gentle. The blue whale, the elephant... even the most poisonous of snakes are reclusive and would only strike in extreme self defense.

The other? Go mad. Much easier to have an unhinged mind, really. Retreat from reality. Run. Examples you say? Picasso is a classic one.

The next time you ask for a gift, consider. Have you the ability to use it? Can you handle the added responsibility? Heard of the phrase, be careful what you wish for, cos you just might get it? You might.

If you have already been given one (it is my firm belief that everyone is AT LEAST given one, sorry, no useless lives consuming oxygen and food on this Earth as far as I'm concerned) , well, pray for strength, pray for humility, pray for wisdom, and pray for the simple joy that you might derive from using that gift well.