52 WEEKS
Week 1 0— Empowerment
Empowerment is at the root of virtually everything we do.
It’s our precious, and we wants it.
Making money? That’s empowerment. Getting an education? Empowerment.
Hunting, gardening, teaching, holding a gun, having a toolkit, making videos, joining a gang. It’s all empowerment.
And computers are at the head of the class.
Information is Power
And the personal computer brings unlimited information right to our doorstep.
In fact, the best way to empower ourselves is through information and connections. What we know and who we know.
I think one of the biggest tragedies of human life is: in the time it takes us to make one window... we could break a hundred of them.
The result is the same. Empowerment.
We were either empowered by its creation (I have made a window) or we were empowered by its destruction (I broke that shit).
Unfortunately, it’s always easier to get BAD empowerment, and more of it, than good empowerment.
And that’s the tragedy.
The good news is: I think virtually all of us would prefer good empowerment. For one thing, we get good consequences instead of bad consequences.
Plus, creation almost always feels better than destruction. (Except in video games, of course. Let’s be real).
But while we might prefer to be empowered by doing something good, not everybody feels they have that option readily available. They don’t see the opportunity for good empowerment. Doesn’t matter if they’re wrong or right. If that’s how they feel, then that’s their reality, and they’re going to act accordingly.
Did you ever wonder why a teenage girl would want to have a baby, and possibly torpedo her future?
Empowerment.
She’s been under everybody’s thumb her whole life. Do this, do that. Come on over here. Sit down and shut up.
But a baby? A baby is HER chance to have power. To be in charge.
At least until the cold, clammy hand of reality shows up…. but that’s another story...
Teenagers, in particular, often feel powerless and are vulnerable to bad forms of empowerment, such as vandalism, violence, and teen pregnancy.
That’s why it’s so important for people- especially young people- to have the feeling of personal power.
The bottom line is, when it comes to empowerment…
We wants it, we needs it, and we’re gonna gets it.
One way or the other.
AFTERTHOUGHTS
— High schools should embrace empowerment. Require debate instead of algebra, for example. That would give kids the verbal tools they need to get what’s inside… outside. It’s an easy way to reduce violence.
Teach courses that empower students, such as speed-reading, memory tools, money management, internet searching, self-hypnosis, etc. Really empower these kids, so that by the time they graduate, they’re locked & loaded and ready to take on the world.
— Award shows empower the award giver.
— The attacks on 9/11 were never about Allah. It was about power. It was all about power.
— Society is much safer when every individual has something to lose.