He's about 5-6 years old, dressed up as Spider-Man. He must be really hot. It feels like 30°C today. But little Spider-Man doesn't mind the heat. He's standing in the middle of the bus, full of excitement. His mum is holding his hand trying to calm him down. He's holding a plastic sword in his other hand. I didn't know Spider-Man had a sword. "Adam, come sit down beside mummy". But the little Spider-Man is not paying attention to what the mum says. Instead he raises his plastic sword up high and yells out:
"I am Adam, Prince of Eternia, defender of the secrets of Castle Greyskull. Fabulous secret powers were revealed to me the day I held aloft my magic sword. By the power of Greyskull! I have the power! I am He-Man, the most powerful man in the universe".
Haa?! What happened to Spider-Man. When did he become He-Man? But I guess it doesn't really matter. Little Adam is a deluxe superhero with a secret super power and a magic plastic sword. He is "the most powerful man in the universe". Adam repeated the word 'power' 4 times in his superhero mini-speech. And that made me think... what defines power? Where do I get my power? When do I feel like a superhero and the most powerful woman in the universe? In Adam's case, he gets his power from his magic plastic sword. And that gives him enough confidence to stand proud in the middle of the bus and showcase it in front of everyone.
Throughout the human history, we've been witnessing wars, corruptions, destruction, massacre, injustice, discrimination, poverty, depression, recession, and many more. Generations after generations, decades after decades, centuries after centuries, we have had no shortage of any of these items. We keep reminding ourselves to learn from the past and not making the same mistakes the generations before made. But still they are happening over and over again. Why isn't there any stop to all these? If we look deeper into the core of all these, we can clearly see they all have one thing in common, and that is power.
It is a need for power and becoming the most powerful nation in the universe that makes countries attacking each other.
Governments employ different techniques to become more and more powerful to achieve stability and security for their countries. They attack the less fortunate and occupy their lands to expand their natural resources. Yesterday their reasoning was to overcome communism, today is to defeat terrorism, and tomorrow it would be a new terminology. But in fact, occupying more lands means having more access to resources such as water, oil, gas, minerals, natural habitats, etc. They build strong military to achieve a powerful status to outshine their opponents. And an actual war zone would be a great opportunity for them to showcase others their latest high-tech military devices. After all, they could get more realistic results if they fly an F-15E Strike Eagle and try it on a village in a third-world country where nobody ever heard of. That being said, let's not forget the effectiveness of the cultural invasion.
But what are these all about? Those governments spend billions and billions of dollars to implement these techniques to seek power. And when they feel threatened by their opponents or those who endanger their status, they'd do everything in their power to defeat them. Power brings better economical and social stability. They have louder voice and higher exception of being heard. They have more control. They can provide their nations with better security. People are more optimistic about their future, and they get more opportunities to achieve what they want to in their lives. So can we say power equals happiness?
Ok, so if we agree on this equation, does that mean that the president of the United States is the happiest man in universe since he's being knows as the most powerful man in the universe? What is power to an individual? So I ask my girlfriend. Power in her opinion is when she can decide about her life and the decisions she's making without the fear of others' views or doubting her decisions. She feels more powerful when she feels that her decisions are not based on pleasing others but only on what she expects of herself. Her response definitely reflects the change she's trying to achieve in her life.
So now I ask myself... what is the definition of power in Bahar Dictionary?
'P', Power: Bahar is the most powerful woman in the universe when she feels that she's the one who's in charge of her destiny. She feels powerful when she is in charge of her life, and she's the one who's the decision-maker not others. So in this context, power = happiness.
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