Suppressing Your Urge To Control In A Decentralized Community.

Megalomaniac - a person who has an obsessive desire for power.

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It is safe to say that humans are competitive in nature and it's only human for us to strive to be better than others. We could also go one step further to claim that humans need to be led and in any society, with time, there'll always be that differentiation between the leaders and followers. All these assumptions can be made purely on the basis of past events and happenings. There are several "sayings" we have as humans that we rarely really adhere to and chief among them is this one from the Yoruba;

The sky is wide enough for all birds to fly without bumping into each other.

Steemit Is For All.

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In reality, some birds really do believe they have some special rights to the sky just because they were fortunate enough to "get there first". As true and logical as this may be when it comes to humans and settlements in the stone age, it simply doesn't add up in a decentralized community where everyone is blessed with the same potential and resources. Steemit belongs to every single one of us and we all have the rights to express ourselves the way we want without being intimidated by anyone.

As far as I know, nobody has any autonomy to running meetups or conferences or whatever projects they so wish no matter how many of those exist already. The entire Steem ecosystem is an experiment and the way we will grow is by encouraging all tyoes of experiments within the community. A proposed meetup in Ibadan shouldn't stop the one in Portharcourt, and just because I organized the one in Ibadan doesn't mean anyother meetup can't be held without me being "consulted". This scenerio could seem funny but it does happen and it's something to be expected in a rapidly growing community. The struggle to gather to yourself as much part of the pie as you can but for what reasons?

Why Do You Want To Be A Megalomaniac?

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You don't have to try to control everything; there's really no need to do that. If you're trying to do that so you can gain some sort of influence, there are several better ways to do that; like actually being of help to others and not attacking them for trying to do what you're also trying to do. You don't have to support everyone or be friends with everyone but you at least owe them one thing and that's to let them be.

Except you've got a patent or the thing is protected by some copyright or trademark, you can't tell people what to do or not do.

If you find out you have a tendency to cling on to power, be very watchful and careful as it may lead you down an unending dark barrel of self destruction.

Freedom Fosters Growth

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The best environment for people to actually flourish and reach full potential is one where they feel truly free and don't have to watch their backs/steps/actions every now and then. Providing an enabling environment for

A good example can be found in a country that encourages the participation of the private sector in her economy. The government might feel the need to control everything but we all know that things work better when the people are empowered to act on their dreams. We all have dreams and aspirations. We have stuff we want to contribute to the society but if we feel the need to suck up to some certain people, because they happened to get here before us, before we can act on our dreams then majority of us won't express taht which we ought to. Do you know how many of the stuff we enjoy today wouldn't have been in existence if there was one single person we had to run all ideas through?

Freedom Doesn't Mean Everyone Will Get It Right

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But they'll at least be satisfied that they tried. We can't really be sure of anything until we put it to the test. When we give everyone the freedom they want, some will break things, burn down things, drill holes, build castles, birth cities, and many more. The minnow that only joined few hours ago might turn out a better project that the community leader you look up to. Like @ericvancewalton says, freedom somehow feels like graduating. You're partly elated and partly scared because you have no idea what the next phase holds. Why would you want to be the megalomaniac that will determine who has the right to try their hands at whatever ideas they so desire?

Allow people fall while they learn to walk. Eventually, they'll get it right.

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