Lisa Gerasimova, Period 8, 10/6/21

Lisa Gerasimova

Modern Mythology, P8

10/6/21

Socio-political Consciousness

• What are your thoughts and feelings about issues of inequity, oppression, and/or power?
• How do you reflect critically on your own beliefs, assumptions, values, and experiences, and how these can influence your perception of self and others?

    Absolute power corrupts absolutely. The phrase is unknown to none, and more than relevant today. Power can always find a way to grow, to expand, to secure itself. One small stretch leads to precedent, and suddenly Power has arrived where it has never been before. Yet this Power, while being able to grow, is unable to have other interests in mind. Everything is the enemy of Power, which explains its tendency to wreak havoc on opposition, even if the threat is no more than an infant. The unconquerable Power of today is only unconquerable because Power is masterful at deception and subtleness. Power creeps slowly and gently, unnoticeably, like a tree watched every minute of the day. But leave it for months, years, decades, and suddenly you have a tree much larger than you can ever be. I have never trusted Power to fulfill duties beyond a niche scope. Power has no interest in me, only in control of me. It is the easiest way for Power to stay in power. One cannot blame it for that.

    I understand that distrust in power can be foolish and sometimes manic. But mania is described as doing the same thing over and over while expecting a different outcome. My family has put faith in all sorts of different powers, but have never been left unscathed by them. From being forced to change their names to fleeing from one power into the hands of another, they have never had their safety be the concern of someone higher than themselves. They have never experienced the security that comes with power, only the coercion and abuse. This is my family, and I would be a fool to think that they haven’t shaped the way I view power. All of my life it has been their word against a foreign entity’s. I do not doubt that power is necessary, or that it can result in good, but I cannot allow myself to trust power to be selfless. It is this belief that leads me to be suspicious of not only power, but the proponents of it. It makes me feel like others are blind to a harsh reality, but I can only assume that this belief has made me blind to something as well. I know that it is a bias, that it affects my decisions and values, but in all of my attempts to shrug it off and give power a chance, I have only been left with disappointment and the idea that everyday, only I would care enough about myself to ensure my safety.