POWER IS POWER
A personal lesson from a witch.
So, I said I was taking a break. Well, I didn’t mean I was going to stop writing to you. It only meant that I was pausing on the book note series to let fresh air in through the windows. We’ll get back to that soon but for now, let me share a very important lesson I learnt from a witch in the HBO series, GAME OF THRONES. The witch? Queen CERSIE Lannister.
One of my favorite scenes in Games of Thrones is the scene where Little finger- Lord Baelish- after getting to know a very grave secret of the Queen, is met by her on a narrow corridor of the palace, being escorted by four guards.
They talked for a while, and during the conversation, Lord Baelish told the Queen, “Knowledge is power”. The Queen sighed, and commanded her guards to “seize him!”, without sympathy she tells to them to “cut his throat”. The guards, like robots, obey immediately. But just as the guards were about to cut Baleesh’s throats, she told them to “stop!…Take three steps back. Turn your backs, and close your eyes”. And the guards, likes robots, obey immediately.
The Queen then gently walked up to fear stricken Lord Baelish, and told him a definition of power I think I prefer. She softly tells him, “POWER IS POWER”
Power is Power.
And here’s the lesson I learnt.
I learnt that power is whatever you make to be it. Power is neither white or black. It’s neutral, and whatever you mold to be power, that’s what power becomes. It’s a thing of perception.
Not that Baelish was wrong to say knowledge is power. But for someone like him who possessed a high intellectual faculty and made his ways with the littlest information he got, it is expected. However, for the Queen who had all things (wealth, people, information influence, status…) It was easier for her to know the neutrality of power. So you see, it’s just a thing of perception, anyways.
If we’ll be frank with ourselves, we’ll see that in a way, the Queen’s perception may not be absolutely true, but it’s somewhat true. So for instance, if I’m a rich, instead of putting myself through the rigor of gaining knowledge of a thing, I could use my gold to gain what I wanted. And with that, I exercise (soft) power. It may not necessarily have to be money or knowledge always, you know. Other times, it might be influence, status, or even name.
Power is power! It’s whatever you make to be it. It’s neutral, neither white or black. It’s subjective. And it’s relative.
There is another side to this argument of knowledge is power|| power is power. But till then, byee.
I hope you learnt something new too.
•Bolu Animashaun TCW
