THE POWER..TO?

Many a time, I wonder if the concept of power varies in its meaning from a person to person.

A policeman might perceive power differently over a politician. If you look at it, even a doctor holds considerable amount of power. Now we come to the point of defining what power is.

We are powerful to the extent of altering our own lives, but the realization of power comes when you have the ability to alter another person’s life apart from your own. Imagine dictating or influencing another person’s life or his decisions based on what you say or do. Now that is what I call power. In a small, considerable way, you are playing god on your own there my friend.

Let us take two classic examples which we see in our day to day life. Suppose there is a road widening project in your area and the building which you own falls right on the road which needs to be widened. A minister or the chairman of your local civic body can now decide how much of the portion of your building needs to be demolished or even the entire building has to be razed down!! The person now has the power to alter your life completely. You would have to either relocate or fight a long legal battle to keep your property intact. But in the end, your life is not the same anymore because of the action of one person.

The second example I wish to take is how a businessman or a corporation flexes its muscles to control people who are associated with them or many a times, not associated at all. The first example dealt with people who are part of the administration or bureaucracy. While here, I am talking about normal people who have the extraordinary ability to affect or influence other people. This concept was once again highlighted in the recent FAST 5 movie, where the bad guy makes a nice point.

A businessman or a corporation creates an ecosystem around it in such a way that the people become solely dependent on the corporation to provide them the entire basic necessary infrastructure apart from the work and income they provide (example good schools, hospitals) that is needed for their survival. This is just a high level example. Therefore, the person in charge then has the ability to prosper and decide without worrying about the consequences on others. He is using his power to get things done which would suit him or favor him.

Let us assume the people who are dependent on his services do decide to raise a voice against him, they stand a chance of losing something which is very much necessary for their survival! How? Read on..

Power is not only about controlling people. Real power lies in how you exercise control. If you just want to plainly control people, then they would definitely rebel against you at some point or the other; however just, wise or honest you are because we humans do not like to be told what to do. We do crave for freedom in all forms and in all walks of life.

The person will then rebel back because he has absolutely nothing to lose.

But if you raise your stakes and show them that you would lose something if they do decide to rebel, then the very same person will think twice before taking such a step. He starts to weigh in all his options and tries to see if he has more to lose if he goes against you than gaining and most often than not, he does not go ahead because his reasoning says he will lose more than what he could gain.

Therefore, Power in not only about exercising it, but its all about how you harness, manipulate and use it without causing much flutter around you. This is what we see around us, but we don’t realize it. There is a parallel world out there my friends, one which we see but never notice. In that world, these individuals/corporations do not obey the same rules or follow the same laws that we do. Why? Because they are the sole creators of those rules and laws.