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06
2009
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What we should do when we realize we have the power Print E-mail
Written by Karen Osborne   
06/01/2008

On the first day of senior-year economics class, our teacher, Mr. LaGoy, asked if we knew who the most powerful person in America was.

Some people guessed "the president."

Wrong, said Mr. LaGoy.

So others wondered if this person was Donald Trump or a similar influential businessman.

One person guessed a popular news anchor, and another the senate majority leader.

Wrong again.

Mr. LaGoy then told us that the most powerful person in the country was a man named Alan Greenspan, who was then the chairman of the Federal Reserve, the central bank of the United States.

The Fed regulates banking institutions, raises or lowers the national interest rate and has a widespread, extensive effect on everything from mortgage rates and credit policy to the price of eggs and clothing.

Before the lesson, we hadn't the slightest idea who Greenspan was.

All Greenspan had to do to influence the entire American economy was adjust one number: raise, or lower, the interest rate.

That, Mr. LaGoy said, was power.

We think we know what power looks like. Fast cars. Pretty people. Henchmen jumping to fulfill every wish and desire. The ability to influence things.

But, as Peter Parker's uncle said in the Spider-Man comic, those with power are entrusted with a great responsibility, and it sometimes means giving things up rather than having them.

Exercising political, military or economic power is a dream for many, but it puts other people's lives and livelihoods in your hands.

As a CEO, it's not just about your penthouse and your car; it's about all of your employees and all of their retirement funds.

As a religious leader, it's not about your reputation; it's about all of the people who look up to you for leadership.

People can lose sight of that scope, using what power they have for themselves first. That's the wrong move; you can only keep power if you look and work outward with it.

Power is wide-ranging. Actors influence how we dress and act. Musicians and rappers create our pop culture with their lyrics. People like the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks inspire generations to rise in the pursuit of justice. College students refuse to buy from clothing dealers that use sweatshop labor.

In Mr. LaGoy's economics class, we learned that power wasn't exactly what we thought it was. We learned it was bigger than that. That we had it ourselves.

Our power is in the words we tell the ones we love. (Do we choose compliments or criticism?)

We have the power to use our money to purchase products that benefit the people that make them, rather than ones made by the violators of human rights.

We have the power to influence our friends away from destructive influences like drugs and alcohol.

We have the power to choose life.

We have the power to learn what we need to have the career we've always dreamed about.

We have the power to make a little contribution that, when joined with others, makes a big difference.

Ordinary people have a tendency to discount their power just because it doesn't look like the kind they're familiar with that's seen in boardrooms and comic books.

Not everyone is Alan Greenspan. Not everyone will be president of the United States. Not everyone will have billions of dollars to disburse to their favorite charities. But that doesn't mean we're not powerful, especially in our own spheres.

We do have the power to do what we can, and we can exercise that power every day.

Karen Osborne is a syndicated columnist for Catholic News Service.

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