For What Is Power

FOR WHAT IS POWER For what is power? A dream, a vision, a destiny? All un-achievable because…. Because we accept the definition handed down by those in power. Power is strength. Strength is power. Rosa Parks had strength, she exhibited power, not in muscle or machismo but in her presence, in her tenacity, in her steadfastness. Rosa Parks was empowered by her strength - to act. Ghandi had strength, cloth wrapped, sinewy strength. He exhibited power, in his defiance, his belief. He shed blood, his own, while refusing to strike back at those who struck him but at the laws and mores that permitted such actions. He was empowered by his strength – to act. They did not wait to become empowered, did not seek validation of their strength, became the empowering strength for others. Martin Luther King was not empowered by his dream, he drew his strength from it, used that strength to empower others to find their strength, to stand, to march, to defy, to unify – to act. And what of us? Will we acknowledge our strength? Will we use that strength to empower others to find their strength? Or will we deny that strength and hope to find empowerment elsewhere. John G. Lawless 7/10/2014 for Verlena S. Walker contest-Strength Empowers ((sorry Verlena, I blew the line count))