We are all familiar with the scene, Uncle Ben is sitting in a car, with Peter Parker next to him, and he tells Peter “With great power comes great responsibility.”
…But think about the opposite. Think about the catch-phrase from the new movie “Kick-Ass” (which is a great movie by the way).
With no power comes no responsibility.
The question is, “Is it true?”
Face it, we aren’t born with the ability to leap over skyscrapers, run faster than bullets, or (in the case of Batman) a trillion dollars to do whatever we want with. Put simple we are powerless.
So, since we’re powerless, are we responsibility-less as well? Are we exempt from trying to better the world? Are we exempt from saving our fellow man? Are we exempt from trying to make the next generation better than the one that came before it?
If you really think about it you certainly don’t have a responsibility to better the world. You’re off the hook! That starving girl in Africa or India, you have no responsibility to better her life. You’re off the hook! That old lady (senior citizen) at the supermarket, you have no responsibility to help her with her groceries or hold the door for her. You’re off the hook! All those people who read your blog, you have no responsibility to keep on publishing thought provoking content for them on a daily basis. You’re off the hook!
… Except you’re wrong. You are responsible. All because of one tiny detail.
You have great power.
Yes, dare I say it, you are powerful. You aren’t powerful in the sense of being able to stop bullets with your hands, but you are powerful in the sense that you have the power to change things. And believe me, the power to change things is one of the most underestimated powers in the world (how many opportunities will arise where you have to stop bullets with your bare-hands anyways?).
You have the power to change that little girl’s life for the better by donating less than 1% of your income. You have the power to change that lady’s day and make it a little brighter by decided that three seconds of your life is nothing compared to helping her get through the day a little easier. You have the power to change your blog readers’ lives one post at a time by letting them know that society is wrong, they can do what they love for a living (it just requires hard-work).
You also have the power of technology. No one with an access to a computer and the internet should say that they don’t have power. With the internet you have the power to make your voice reach the ears (and hearts) of millions. You have the power to talk to someone half a world away. You have the power to get an Ivy-League education for practically nothing. You have the power to start your own business from the comfort of your home (just look at Amazon, Threadless, and all the Probloggers out there). And over time you’ll also gain the power of knowledge and wisdom (which needs no explanations).
And as technology continues to improve and become more accessible to the common man, you can no longer ignore it; you have a lot of power. Now the only question left is
What are you going to do with it?
What about starving children in our own country? What about starving children in your own neighborhood? Who’s responsible for them? Are people with money in India feeding our starving children? Are you?
How are we responsible for feeding starving Indian children if Indians aren’t responsible for feeding their own? Are they starving because you took their money without giving them something in return? Or is their starvation totally independent of your actions?
If you feel a need to justify your existence by helping people whose pain has nothing to do with you, you might want to read Ayn Rand’s book, Anthem, so as to get a sense of what it’s like to finally accept yourself as a free individual with a right to look after your own needs. Else, just look in the mirror and say, “I hate myself.” At least then, you’ll be ready to “save” the right person.
Hmm, I like your argument.
But, this post was never about “helping others” per say. It was about letting that individual who feels powerless realize that they are, in fact, not.
And that power I was referring to was the power of change. It doesn’t have to be targeted to those starving kids in India/Africa, or to your own community if you will. You can change yourself, better yourself!
And once you realize that there are people out there who think themselves “powerless,” and thus unwilling to do something about their surroundings, as a human you can’t really stand back and watch as everything around them (and eventually you) goes to hell… Can you?
Great point. After spending over a decade in the scouting program, I don’t even think before stopping to help a stranded motorist, or someone in the grocery store who can’t reach that can on the top shelf.
Great quote on the topic from Margaret Mead:
Never underestimate the power of a small group of committed citizens to change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.
Thanx for the great quote.
I started reading your article, shaking my head saying “no, actually we aren’t powerless, we have lots of power” and then a few paragraphs in you said the same thing and I thought “ah, that was Arsene’s point!”. Glad we agree on this one. We all have the potential to make a big difference to each other and the world. We just have to get started down that road and take positive action.
Haha, glad I was able to trick you.
Oh wow! I seriously wrote an article on this today: Heroic Destiny. I even went so far as to say that by not choosing to be heroic, we are actually deciding to be the opposite.
You are right, we do have power and we can be heroes. And I fully agree that we have a responsibility to act because of the great power that we have.
Thank you for a great post! This was very encouraging!
Haha, I would say “great minds think alike”, but that’s too cliche.