Power

I've never desired followers. If anything, I've only wanted to create leaders, to imbue individuals with the power and ideas to take control of their lives, change their destinies and, perhaps, change the world.

But though my desire to create leaders seems to be wholly noble, and perhaps on some level it is, it's truly a very selfish desire. You see, I've read my history books, I've studied my sociology and I've learned about leaders and what it means to become one.

Simply put, no matter how much power and prestige a leader holds over his or her followers, to remain in power they must sway to the wishes of the masses they lead, in effect, becoming every bit the follower as those they claim to lead. Much as the shepherd must follow the flock as much as the flock must follow him, our modern leaders are led as much as they lead.

The result is that there are no leaders in this world, no champions, no power-figures, just other victims of the same group think and social chaos that has run this planet for thousands of years. Rather than becoming shapers of our world, they become lightnening rods for our collective misery and a backdrop on which we can project our feelings about things that no one can control.

The only person you can ever truly hope to lead is yourself and, even if you can achieve that, you have to watch for the pitfalls hidden within your own mind and soul. After all, no one wants to become a slave to their own needs any more than they want to be a slave to another human being. Just because the slavery is self-contained doesn't make it any less painful or destructive.

What we need to realize as a society is that a shepherd does not need a flock to fulfill his destiny, that the desire to blindly lead is just as destructive as the desire to blindly follow and that taking control of another human being is never a one-way exchange. Basic physics teaches us that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction and that's a rule that applies seamlessly to any situation where control or leadership is applied.

The incessant drive for more power and more control only leaves us more and more vulnerable. Before we know it, we find ourselves at the mercy of those we control and the quest of maintaining that level of intensity becomes an all-consuming task, destroying the lives of both the champions and the commoners.

As I said before, the ultimate power lies with the control you have over yourself. Freedom, strength, happiness, none of these things are found by being leaders in the traditional sense of the word and those that feel they need it in order to achieve inner peace are doing nothing more than filling a void in their own miserable hearts. While it's true that the dumb need to be led and the weak need to lead, the dumb never find enlightenment and the weak never find strength, that is, not unless they look within themselves.

So yes, I do want to create leaders, but not in the traditional sense of the word. I want to create leaders of the self, people who control their own lives, their own worlds and their own destinies. They're the only ones who can change the future and, even if they can't, at least they'll control their own hearts. For, as long as there's a heart out there still beating free, there's still hope, hope for change, hope for a better day and hope for a new world.

In the meantime though, we have no choice but to watch our so-called leaders get manipulated more and more while the teeming masses that worship them get more and more stupid. The futility of power is awe-inspiring and, until we change the definition, it's a futile struggle that will carry on swallowing our future whole.

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7 Responses to Power

  1. Star says:

    I wonder, can you name anybody who fulfills your definition of a leader?

  2. Kelly says:

    So who dies shape the world, then? I mean, if leaders are simply followers of the sollective society… and I'm not disputing that… where are the ones that really do have a hand in shaping this world?

  3. Briana says:

    "Companions … the creator seeks, not corpses, not herds and believers. Fellow creators, the
    creator seeks–those who write new values on new tablets… Destroyers they will be called…"
    — FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE__—

  4. carthain tammarian says:

    i love the poem it is one that has breeched the walls of my heart please write me back at my email adress

  5. dark dreamer says:

    yeah, there are leaders…but to what extent? I mean what is a leader? there are different kinds. One leader i hate is our current president. I deeply apologize if i offend some but you know how hes trying to stop gays from marrying? well thats his opinion and hes doing that for himself…jerk. I mean it really isnt for the good of the country. Hes abusing his privilage of being a leader. The only thing about gays is that they cant have children together. But they are human and have feelings too, so why try and deny them the right to love? I leader should run whatever hes running by facts only, not opinions, i think that way less people will complain.

  6. Ominee says:

    This goes to Dark Dreamer. While I'm a twelve year old girl I have to agree with you. I'm not a leisbian but he is doing the law for himself. Love is love and no matter wat he does I don't think thats going to stop anything.

  7. anonomous says:

    well wats he doin is wrong…but they aint shyt we can do bout it…we are jus small voices in a room with much louder ppl…it dun matta to them wat we have to say…

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