Feel the power, baby!
Power. Just how much do we as individuals have? Just how much are we after?
I'm reading two book series right now. One (which I just finished the first book of) is called Ender's Game and other is called Death Note. Both are, at the moment, about power and influence. Both are about young people with the ability to change the world and about amassing the power to do so, in one way or another.
For those not in the know, here's a brief synopsis of each:
Death Note is about a high schooler named Light Yagami who comes across a blank booklet called a death note. He finds that anyone whose name he writes in it dies in almost any way he sees fit. Instead of using the book to eliminate one or two people, Light takes it upon himself to rid the world of all criminals and evil doers and create a utopian society with himself as the one true god. And Light is a brilliant, charismatic young man (despite arguably being a sociopath) - he pits his cunning and ambition against a variety of law enforcement agencies and truly becomes a force to be reckoned with without anyone even knowing his true identity.
Ender's Game is the story of a young boy named Ender Wiggin as he rises through the ranks of a futuristic military through what should have been a normal childhood. Ender is brilliant and resourceful and is raised by the military hierarchy to be the best commander the world has ever known. He wants no power yet it is constantly placed upon him, and he struggles to hold onto his humanity even when the world around him seems determined to strip him of it. While the descriptive nature of tactics and immersing you in this harsh, unforgiving lifestyle are a vibrant part of this story, what really matters in the end is Ender himself, this little boy and what he must go through and sacrifice to do protect what he loves.
In Ender's Game I had reached a point where one of the boys in the story - Peter, who is no older than twelve - has declared that he will control the world, through words and manipulation and influence. I read this and I stopped and I thought. What was I doing at age twelve? I was playing with Transformers, I was watching cartoons, reading comics, stealing glances of my teacher's chest (and probably not being as subtle as I believed myself to be)… I certainly didn't give a whiff about the politics of the world or of control. But over the course of history there have been those that did, people that grew up faster and could see the world past its surface distractions.
One of the quotes in Ender's Game stuck with me: "Power will always end up with the sort of people who crave it". I don't think that's solely true - everyone craves power of one sort or another: power over others, over themselves and their own lives… What makes the difference is what you're willing to do to achieve it. There are those who sit around waiting to win a lotto ticket, craving the power money will give them over their own lives (though for the most part they just end up with a fat ass and consider that one time they were seen on the news as their moment in the spotlight). But anyone with a working brain cell knows you aren't going to achieve actual power by hanging around and hoping it comes your way. It has to be pursued. Worked for.
And of course there's the simple capacity to grasp power as well - you don't rule the world without knowing how to work the crowd. Despite every after-school special and lame family sitcom we've ever seen, looks do make a difference, and when you combine that with intellect and drive you have a lot of influence.
I think one of the biggest factors in being able to achieve real control of the world, and one of the factors why Ender himself never wanted extensive power over others, is the capacity to embrace "the big picture". It's the ability not only to see that not everyone's going to be happy with your decisions, but to do whatever it takes to achieve your goals in spite of it. People will inevitably stand in your way. And more often than not, it comes down to the question: you or me?
How much does that power mean to you? And how far are you willing to go to grasp it? Who is willing to go the extra mile to be on top and call the shots? That's all part of the capacity to take power and lead, as well as to hold onto it.
Light Yagami is someone who is perfectly designed for achieving power. He's got looks, charm and intelligence, as well as a knack for understanding how others think which gives him a great advantage at anticipating opposition. He's also ruthless: he easily eliminates anyone who gets in his way and has no qualms about crossing a line. To him, taking an innocent life comes down to a simple question: is their death necessary for the greater good? If so, then he writes them off (literally).
Peter is the same way: nothing is more important to him than achieving power, so from that point on life and death are only parts of the equation when it comes to influencing others and increasing his power-base.
Ender, someone with practically unlimited ability to control, is probably one of the most powerless individuals in his own story. He is manipulated at every turn by those around him, tricked or coerced into every single role he plays because his capacity as a tool is what's needed. The only power he wants is over his own life, and it's that very power which he never seems to grasp.
So what makes Ender different from Light or Peter? Empathy. The capacity to feel what others feel, his greatest strength and his greatest weakness. True, Light and Peter are both intelligent enough to see how others will react and feel but they don't allow themselves to be touched by those feelings; people are not people in their eyes, family and friends are really neither, everyone's just a pawn on the board. Ender, however, does: it's what blocks him from ever having real power (and is really the only thing enslaving him throughout the book), but it's also what allows him to keep his humanity. And his connection to the human race is far more important to Ender than any kind of control he might otherwise have. He knows the big picture is there, but he refuses to be a part of it.
I do wonder about that sometimes, though: there are a lot of problems in the world that someone could easily solve by just snuffing out a life. Would I do it if I felt it was justified? Would I write Osama bin Laden's name, or Kim Jong Il? Would I stop there, would I try to wipe out every killer waiting 20 years for the electric chair or every rapist who walked from a jail sentence on a technicality? One of Light's advantages is that he can kill without any repercussions: it's practically impossible to link him to any of the murders he commits thanks to the death note. And justifying taking life in the name of the greater good has been the hallmark of virtually every world leader in history. So I do toy with the idea sometimes, what would I do if given access to the kind of tool Light has? Would the only thing stopping me be fear of punishment? I personally believe one of the only things keeping humanity as a whole in check from utter barbarism is fear of prison or fear of Heaven and Hell, that someone out there is keeping tabs. Who knows? When you die you might just find your ass poked with a pitchfork.
Or instead of fear of punishment, if I knew I would be caught and punished would I still use the death note, or direct a weapon like Ender Wiggin, believing my cause to be just, that my acts are still part of the greater good? If I had such power, would I use it?
Honestly, I don't desire control over others, something Peter and Light want. Too much responsibility, plus I tend to look too far into the big picture: why build a utopian empire if two or three generations later the whole lesson would be lost or perverted by those still alive and craving their own power? (for a faith preaching love and tolerance, Christians have killed more people than any other religion in history, something I'm pretty sure Jesus would have frowned upon) But for the power to protect those I love and keep away the fear of evil in their lives? Would I take a life? Or two? Would I change the world itself so that no evil could come at them from any angle?
Who knows? I guess I'd just have to cross that line when I come to it.