Within all of us lies great power, or so my father said to me a time or two. I recall him saying it most often at moments when I'd been subjected to ill-treatment at the hands of others. I was a young child at the time and struggled with the treatment I'd received, racially-motivated, that left me battered and bruised on the exterior and deeply troubled within.
I learned harsh lessons at a very young age, came to understand the nature of human beings and myself and those moments gave my father the chance to drop his pearls of wisdom upon me here and there and lead by example in action and deed.
It wasn't until many years later I came to truly understand what he meant. He'd explained I had the power of choice, power to rise above and be a better man (boy), the power to stand apart and own my individuality, the power to deny the opportunity for other people's hate and prejudice to change who I was but...I was a kid and it didn't sink in immediately. As I grew older I gained my own power in the form of strength and to my discredit I used it against those who sought to impose their own upon me; I was rather brutal. The vilification ceased but I didn't feel good about it in the long run.
Over the years I've wielded great power, had the ability to affect lives, to give and take and to make a difference both positive and negative.
Looking back I shudder to think what actions I could possibly have taken with the power I had at my disposal but here's the thing...The lessons I learned from my father had permeated down to my core and guided my attitudes, thoughts and actions. He had taught me about true power. Through my fathers calm words and influence I learned how to master myself, to show ownership, take responsibility and to be the best man I could possibly be. Invaluable lessons.
My father was a peaceful man; kind, generous and humble and I've tried to emulate that, to carry his legacy. I'm the same sometimes, but there's elements of me that contradict those also. I wonder if I'm more well-rounded than he was, more pragmatic. I'm not sure. I've wielded power though, efficiently and with precision and I've thought a lot about what my father would think should he have known the extent of it.
I've always operated within the framework of values my father instilled in me as well as I possibly could, working to hold integrity and honour above all. I had the power to do so, dad showed me that. Of course, I also had the power to compromise those values, ethics and morals and I have, to my great shame. Not one of us are perfect though and sometimes we need to take a circuitous route to get where we are going; I have certainly have done that in my life...I still am.
Dad is gone now, last year, but I thank him silently every day.
I am my own man of course, completely different to him, but also part of him. In my formative years he taught me the concepts I'd use later to design and create myself in the image I wanted to resemble, my life as well, and whilst I have my faults, many, many faults, I can sometimes look myself in the mirror and like what I see. He's the reason.
Design and create your ideal life, don't live it by default - Tomorrow isn't promised so be humble and kind
Discord: galenkp#9209
The image is my own
Our parents has got the best advice for us. In my community, there’s a saying that;
I have got a similar messages from my father too and it’s only making sense to me now that I have grown older.
Sometimes it takes a little experience to drive home the lessons our elders teach.
True. Lessons learned from our experience in life would then be passed to our children as an advice too. The cycle continues
I concur.
Great content brother 🙌
Most of us pick up one or two legacies from our father and it has helped us in some of our decisions. Though there are times we apply our own strength been the fact that everyone has his or her in-built power we only need someone to ignite it for us.
There is a saying in my locality: It is what the bird eats inside, that she fly along with it. If you don't activate what you learnt from my father, the legacy die within you and won't bring forth fruit of the real you. You can't rule out the legacy of your parent, especially your father on the journey of your life. I love the write-up
Nice writeup
Indeed, you make some good points and I like that saying from your local area. ✅
You know G., power is a tricky thing. I am realizing that a true powerful person is the one who masters their own self, just like it was stated in the quote.
It is easy to abuse power and turn it into a weapon. Many people would become a terror if they would have the power. Too much power can be dangerous if one can't control themselves.
It is a hard task to master yourself. I see how difficult it is to change my own habits and paradigms, no wonder that it is almost impossible to change other people. And this is why we should not even try.
To have had the power to crush someone and to have chosen not to...well that is true character
I think mastering oneself is incredibly difficult and maybe even impossible. But, the more we try the better we become even if we don't attain mastery.
I totally agree, I think that me from today is a little better than me from yesterday. And it is enough.
Indeed.
Some great info and perspectives here.
I saw a meme the other day that I felt was profound, at least for me personally. It was along the lines of “one thing we might not realize that as we are growing up, we are watching our parents grow up as well” and I was moved by that. Thinking back on my childhood and moments like this where I was growing up but so weren’t my parents. I think your dad was a great man, peaceful and intelligent but he was perhaps speaking from experience from what it sounds like. Sounds like wanted to try and influence how you grew up so that you could choose a different path than one he felt or witnessed himself.
Although we make mistakes and as you say, no one is perfect, what we do to reshape what we did in the past to change how we do things in the future is wisdom in my opinion. Some people never change their ways and don’t have the willpower to even look back.
Great comment and there's not much to add really. You said it pretty well indeed.
My dad saw some very tough times through World War Two and I think that shaped him. He was very passive, possibly because of the violence around him as a child. He imparted that to us but I'm also my own man and so walked my own paths.
I guess the underlying lesson is that we can all learn from those that come before us.
The lessons we learn from them live on in our actions and I am glad of that. My dad was less of a thinker but still taught us much about standing up for ourselves and even better, similar to yours choosing to let events dictate our actions. I still think of the old codger every day with his wry smile and cynical but happy view of the world
They live in us and have helped shape our lives, especially early on. It makes sense that we perpetuate those lessons and pay them forward to others. They grew up in different times as will your kids but the basics are the same and I'm sure you're passing that down the line.
Yeah man, it's the basics that underpin everything. It's all built on the foundations and you just hope that you are building them right. As our old dad's did :0)
If a person does the basics well, more often than not, then they're on the right track indeed.
My Mom still scolds me at the age of 90 and just like a child, I often think I am right and she's wrong! But when I think about it afterwards, I realize the wisdom that she still tries to impart, even though I'm an old gal myself.
Very thoughtful post @galenkp, thank you for sharing it here with us!
I guess the wisdom that comes from parents always has relevance no matter the age.
Great post
👍🏼
My parents instilled many lessons on their nine kids, but, it really wasn't until I was out of the house that it really was driven home and although I didn't realize it, one day, I woke up and sounded like my mother (and father, they tag teamed!)
Thank you for this. I know what a great job they did and I was sorry I wasn't appreciative enough when I was growing up.
I think none of us are grateful enough as kids Swigs, probably because we're children and don't know better. What matters is that the lessons sunk in though and as adults we live them. 😊
You are blessed @galenpk. My father was never around when we were young but I am happy that we have now connected and grateful to have a mother who helped me and my siblings to be the best people we can be - under all circumstances.
I've always looked upon you folks and thought how close you seemed as family unit. It's pretty cool. Also, it's great you've connected with your dad and are making the time count.
Yes, we really are a close knit family. Time with my Dad has been very special of late.
You are very fortunate (blessed) to have heard and listened to your father's wise words and have been guided by them. Sometimes great lessons come after some experiences and when we get to reflect upon them. Many thanks for sharing them here :)
You're welcome and thanks for reading.
I have mostly learned through experience although my parents gave me a good grounding and taught me how to open up to my experiences and the lessons they bring.
It is indeed right what they say, that experiences are the best teachers for we do learn from them. And it's great when our parents leave us something that we benefit from for the rest of our lives :)
That photo is amazing.
I think it's a pretty common thing that we just don't get the nuggets of wisdom our parents hand down because our own pride at that age (it's a different world that they know nothing about and we know better because we're better educated) plus relative lack of experience makes it difficult to understand.
I'm really feeling it now that I'll have all teenagers next year x_x
Your dad sounds like a great person that raised a great person :)
I'm happy that the lessons my parents gave me directly and indirectly permeated a d that they now form a basic platform for everything else. When I was a kid? Well, I did so many stupid things...All of which taught me lessons also.
Thanks for your kind words Ry, much appreciated. And good luck with those teeenagers! 😳
Very purposeful write-up.
Great power lies within everyone but without the right knowledge on how to channel them the right way, we might end up making a mess.
No wonder the Holy book emphasized that:
Knowledge of Power management and its Use is very key to personal growth and development. Knowledge can come from various ways such as exposure, experience, research among others.
I am happy your father's words still live on through you and many who read this beautiful post.
Much love😍
I'm not sure what holy book you refer to, there are so manys different ones. I tend to make my own path in life rather than follow behind others.