Power.

If you go back through history, examining every major event that has taken place since the beginning of time, there has always been one common driving force. This motive is the center of the main question we attempted to understand during 8th grade humanities. Power. What is power? There are countless definitions and attempts to understand such a simple word. Many of the definitions overlap on one point; the ability to affect one’s environment. Therefore, the definition I propose is, “The ability to make decisions that affect you and your environment.” In order to better understand this definition, the positive and negative effects of power will be examined.
In our world, and in our normal society, we see power in various “dimensions” or degrees.r. When you shift into three dimensions of power, the type that is “global, there are MANY large entities vying for control, or more power. Each of them are attempting to make decisions that affect the entire environment, not a small part of it. This can lead to serious problems, wars, and decisions that are not always in the best interest.
The most prominent examples of 3d power gone wrong are the World Wars. Because Germany sought to increase their power and their ability to affect their environment, their interests conflicted with that of another entity. In this case, the entity was a superpower called England, and it’s allies, France, America, and generally the west part of the world. The war that ensued was costly, painful, and all over unnecessary. Another example is the idea of imperialism, or one country’s dominance over another for capitalistic purposes. Because of England’s massive hunger for a larger environment to control, country’s including Africa were subjugated and colonized. Through this process countless cultures and people were eradicated. If you fast forward to negative 3d power in this century, it all revolves around multinational corporations. These corporations have become the new entities, and are relentless in their pursuit of environments to affect through sale of goods.
There are positive effects of power. For example, when people award power to a leader, that leader usually makes smart decisions regarding their country. This is the basic idea that governments like capitalism and socialism are formed around. Taking the United states as an example, President Lincolns decision to remove slavery, and to allow people of all colors to unite allowed progress that was never before seen. Other decisions that affect our environment such as the countless peace treaties with nations, have kept the global populace safe. Those who wield 3d power properly choose the good “global” choice, versus what they would like to see happen.
In conclusion, if you look at the net effect, I can say that Power is good. Good in the sense that the net effect of wielding power usually has good effects on people and society. In our relentless search to influence our environment, there have been many bad decisions made by powerful people. Although this has had severe effects on the populace, or us, we still elect leaders who wield power properly to make smarter decisions. Those decisions including the abolishment of slavery, the freedom of immigration act, and the decision to remove apartheid have all impacted our world positively.