Strong Men and Power Vs. Weak Men and Power: The Respect For Power That Comes Because of the Struggle

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Dr. Erskine: A Good Man

“This is why you were chosen. Because a strong man who has known power all his life, may lose respect for that power, but a weak man know the value of strength. And knows compassion.”

“Thanks, I think.”

“Whatever happens tomorrow, you must promise me one thing, That you will stay who you are. Not a perfect soldier, but a good man.”

Abraham Erskine and Steve Rogers, “Captain America: The First Avenger

Too often, we have grown comfortable witpower after being used to powerlessness, and we allow that power to grant us legitimacy, and we never get healed in our heart, our mind, and/or our spirits.

I think G-d wants to grant us His power and his authority, but He wavers when it comes to granting power to those who are not yet healed or who rely on their own talents, powers, authority, ability, skill in order to create a place where they feel legitimacy.

It is a hard place to be when you trust to your own design and then lose respect fot the power that comes with that design.

But when you allow Father regular and constant input into how you use and allocate the gift of your design (which is one way to define humility), then you are capable of executing when you need to execute, and you are capable of restraining when Father wants you to restrain.

Sure, you can fix a problem, but the question is, “Should you?” And what are the effects that will roll out if you solve that problem for others, instead of allowing them the opportunity to struggle for the solutions? Are you shortchanging others of the struggle they need to earn, not only the power to solve a particular problem, but also the respect that comes with struggling for the power that will ultimately come with mastery.

Sometimes, G-d allows us a struggle so that we earn respect and cultivate humility that is critical in order to skillfully weild the power to [fill in the blank].

“I’ll tell you the probelm with the scietific power that you’re using here. It didn’t require any discipline to attain it. You know, you read what others had done and you took the next step. You didn’t earn the knowledge for yourselves, so you don’t take any responsibility for it. You stood on the shoulders of geniuses to accomplish something as fast as you could and before you even know what you had, you patented it, and packaged it, and slapped it on a plastic lunchbox, and now you are selling it. [Your scientists] so preoccupied with whether or not they could, that they didn’t bother to stop and ask if they should .”

Ian Malcom, “Jurassic Park”

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