THE LIMIT OF POWER

I have never had, or sought, power. True I have had a high level of responsibility (to achieve results) plus a similar level of authority (to act in order to achieve results) which I accepted willingly, but power per se, never.

If I may take you back to the year 1016 England had a king (Canute – often spelled Cnut) who was Danish; he ruled over Denmark, England, bits of Sweden and also Norway; overall, a pretty omnipotent individual. It was said that he was an honest man, well-respected by those over whom he ruled – which says a lot about his character, I believe.  As was usual at that time, he was surrounded by legions of courtiers, hangers-on and general boot-lickers who all thought he was the best thing that ever walked on Earth (and told him so).  But our friend Canute was not easily “seduced” by these words and one day whilst walking by the sea with his courtiers, he turned and asked them whether they thought he had power over everything including nature. Naturally, the hangers-on replied that he had power over everything, so he set out to prove them wrong. He asked for a chair to be placed by the edge of the water and commanded the waves NOT to get his feet wet. Well, naturally his feet did get wet and turning to his courtiers he suggested that they should not behave so foolishly as he knew the limits of what he could do.

Fast-forwarding the story to today, I am always amazed at those who perceive they have “power”. Now, I believe, this word is a substitute for “status”; but status without background or unearned is a sham and meaningless. Nevertheless, these people still surround themselves with the same type of people – those who serve no other purpose than to tell him that his “status” and “power” are awesome and that they are there to assure him that his power will never grow less but increase over time. Sycophantic bullshit – the moreso since such individuals primarily rely on fear for their “power” and, as we all know, fear only has a short-term impact; it lessens the more it is used. And men of “status” drag this “army” along with them, not for the sake of this “army” but for themselves, as they are a visible sign of their “power”, “status” and “value”.

I want to see fewer such individuals on the world stage; I want “Canute-type” leadership – strength through humility - and I am pretty sure the majority of you would agree…..

Until next time (without power - but dry feet),

Peripatetic Scribe