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| The Power of Human Understanding, Will and Emotion |
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You
have power because you have many capabilities. The power of your body
allows you to see, hear, smell, touch, move, etc. The power of your
mind involves your intellect, emotion, and will. Through your intellect
you have the ability to think, understand, imagine new ideas and
possibilites. |
Unlike
animals, people see meaning in their actions. Did you ever see two
squirrels admiring a sunset? Or discussing the meaning of life? Or what
they plan to do next year? Or even tomorrow? Of course not, these are
human activities.
Unlike animals, people see meaning in their
actions. Did you ever see two squirrels admiring a sunset? Or
discussing the meaning of life? Or what they plan to do next year? Or
even tomorrow? Of course not, these are human activities.
Through
your emotions you can feel joy and sorrow, anger and forgiveness, love
and hate, fear and hope, and sometimes feel what others feel. That's
called empathy. Through your will you can determine to accomplish
something, overcome a fear that's immobilized you in the past, reach a
goal that you've dreamed about, create something that never existed
before. For example, one man, Thomas Edison, after trying and failing
thousands of times, discovered how to make an electric lightbulb that
has benefited people's lives all over the world.
You also have
the power of your conscience, which is your sense of justice, what is
right and wrong, what you ought to do. And you have social power- the
power to interact and to relate with and influence other people, to
work together for a common goal. One example of a woman who used her
conscience and social power was Rosa Parks, a black woman in the
segregated 1950s American South who refused to move to the back of a
bus. This small, seemingly insignificant act led to a bus boycott that
was an important chapter in the Civil Rights movement. |
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