With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility: Understanding The Power-Responsibility Continuum

blessing97 (54)in #life • 6 years ago

You've probably heard the above statement more than a couple of times, be it from Uncle Ben Parker(Cliff Robertson) in the 2002 spider man movie or from a motivational speaker or maybe even your parents or grandparents during a family bonding or wisdom imparting session. Well, I'm not Uncle Ben and I'm no motivational speaker either, but with the direction the world in general is heading towards, I feel the need to discuss this as a subject of growing concern.

Living in an under-developed or so called developing country has made me view life in general from a different perspective. A country which although is blessed with an abundance of countless natural and human resources is also somewhat cursed with incessant corruption, financial theft, social injustice and inequality(just like @damarth talked about here) which indeed has become the order of the day, with so called political leaders carting away millions and taking majority of these funds to store up in bank accounts overseas, but thanks to the present administration, a good percentage of those stolen funds have either been recovered or rendered useless as they cannot be used in relatively large amounts since they would pop up several red flags almost anywhere they turn to.

Most of these political leaders have lost sight of the most important things, the things that really do matter and count but have instead chosen to fill up their extra-large pockets and pot bellies with the money meant to cater for the entire populace, while also failing to live up to their political promises for which they were sworn in, thus leading to the inevitable and undesired sufferings of most persons living in this part of the world with a large portion of these persons living in extreme or abject poverty that even the U.N reports that most live on less than a dollar or two each day, which is truly sickening to the bone.

I know what you may be thinking right now; "Well, I'm no political leader and as such all of these subsequently has nothing to do with me. Hell I'm not even into politics." So in the light of this, enough of my rants about political leaders and all that but let's now talk about you(Yes, you reading this).

True, you may not be a political leader or ruler in any way or fashion, but I just have a few questions for you. How well do you handle little responsibilities, tasks and more importantly that little bit of power you have? Are you the leader of your team at work or of a current school project? Or perhaps, you're a steemit curator or role model whom others look up to right here on this platform. If you are any of the above, then the question is; with your current position of power, authority and decision making, how well have you managed to impact positively into the lives of those under you and also others around you? How well do you utilize your position of authority when dealing with workmates, colleagues and others? Do you bully or victimize others supposedly under your care or tutelage? Or perhaps, do you fail to take responsibility for your actions by always passing the buck? Well, these are questions which you and you alone can give good deserving answers to.

But as much as you'll hate to hear this, if all your answers are on the negative or bad side of the questions then there's almost no difference between you and those political leaders I earlier talked about. And if your answer is on the positive side, then kudos to you, Keep doing good!

Why are those questions really important or even necessary though you may ask? Well, it is because of the saying which goes;

He that is faithful in little will be faithful in much.

So if you can cultivate, develop and utilize good leadership skills given the little power you're currently vested with, when you're given more to handle, chances are that you would also do a good if not an even better job. Whereas if you're already poor with the little you have, no one would obviously entrust more into your care. So it is indeed imperative that you understand that the little things do actually matter.

The Power-Responsibility Continuum

No doubt, power and responsibility are inter-dependent and inter-related and as such can conveniently be referred to as a CONTINUUM. It is also not uncommon to hear statements such as "Respect begets respect" and "Real trust and respect are never imposed or forced but rather are earned", meaning any form of power enforced in an autocratic way and manner may ultimately lead to a revolt by others who feel the need to get you out from that position of authority. Therefore change becomes imminent either by revolution or by reform.

So, since the beginning of this article I've been talking about POWER, POWER and POWER. But it is also important that you understand that the concept of having "power" could be entirely subjective, as power could come in several forms, but with each form of power carrying it's own weight of responsibility. Be it physical power, mental power or legal power.

The sense of responsibility is clearly highlighted in the sense that for example, a man having great physical strength should not use this as a means to violently abuse his wife or even children at home. In the same vein, the responsibility involved in possessing mental power would mean not thinking ill of others while legal power is also bound by legal constraints.

In conclusion, we've seen the relationship between power and responsibility and how they ultimately flow through each other. Therefore those who wield such power must avoid becoming intoxicated with it, because intoxication leads to inevitable abuse which in turn causes the boundaries of morality to be trespassed and thus the person tends to infringe or care less about the rights of others around him/her which is totally unacceptable, as it leads to misuse of such power. This is better understood by comparing men like Gandhi and Nelson Mandela with a man like Adolf Hitler or rather maybe by comparing the roles of armies to that of terrorists or religious extremist groups. No doubt the difference is indeed clear!
So how you use your power and whatsoever legacy you leave behind after you're gone is entirely up to you. Just remember to use it wisely!