Power

I can't say that I've never felt powerless. I have - many times. I've just never made a habit of it and indulged in feeling like a victim. As soon as I figured that I was a sucker, I got out of whatever situation was sucking me dry. I'm just not willing to be a host for parasites. If you've got something to give, I take it - and return the favor. Authentic givers are usually good takers - and vice versa. To me, life is all about give and take.

But......not everyone else thinks like that. I've known a lot of people who somehow don't know how to give and take. Their giving is fake and their taking is manipulative and there's always some sort of underlying power struggle going on in their minds. I'm not interested in having power over others so passive-aggressive folks mystify me.

(As I wrote that some critter began to scream outside my window. I'm guessing that a fox caught one of the chickens but it sounded more like a mammal squeal than a bird squawk so it may have been a rabbit or some other wild critter being eaten. Nature is raw in tooth and claw. And humans are animals even though they are also a lot more than that.)

To get back to discussing power - I can't remember exactly when I first realized that people were troglodytes with fancy suits but it was some time during my teens and it explained a lot that had made no sense till then. It was not "nice" to find that I lived in a dog-eat-dog world instead of the fanciful "Jane Austen" er - "Little House on the Prairie" world that I had lived in till then.

(I struck out "Jane Austen" because she actually understood that ladies and gentlemen are cavemen in fancy clothes who considered income before "romance" - like any practical troglodyte would. I substituted "Little House on the Prairie" because it's so "nice" and clean and wholesome; the way we all want to be and can be and should be if we wish this world to be more than a charnel-house.)

Okay - power. So maybe I've felt powerless but it's always only been temporary because eventually you realize that the only real power is individual power and you'd better assert it before you get eaten like a poor helpless critter. Sure you can rely on the power of a group but it's iffy. If you don't toe the line, the group can (and will) kick you out - or eat you for breakfast.

It's tricky: you need groups sometimes but they can't be relied upon. In the end it's better to stand on your own two feet - which brings me back down to earth and the consideration of why some people feel powerless. I see it a lot with the pie-in-the-sky New Age touchy-feely Marxist/Lennonist "Imagine" folks. Are they are afraid or ashamed to exert their power?

Why? I don't want to make assumptions and would appreciate some answers. The whole passive-aggressive "victim" game mystifies me. But it seems that a whole political philosophy and way of life is based on this feeling of powerlessness; that we need a Big Brother government to take care of us because we are helpless.

I'll hazard a guess and show my prejudices - people who need Big Brother are twerps who are lazy and don't want to take responsibility.