Power Politics

There is a family of sayings that go something along the lines of

You can tell a lot about a person by how they treat...... <fill in the blank>.

I have heard this concluded with the words "others," "animals," "wait staff," "nature," "themselves," and "lessers."  And, if I think about it much longer, I suspect the list will get longer and longer.  But the one I seem to recall hearing first was "you can tell a lot about a person by how they treat their lessers."

I guess it doesn't exactly matter too much which one of these you select, because they are all true.  You can learn a lot about someone by observing how they react to and deal with other.... things/people/creatures.  The key is taking time to observe with the intent to learn.

But, it does matter when you are talking about "lessers" because it gets us to a bigger problem and a different issue.  So, let me try something here.

Doctor versus janitor?  Wait staff versus manager?  Farmworker vs actuary?  

Don't tell me you don't see a hierarchy there because I think it highly likely that every person who reads this blog was trained to believe that a person who is a doctor has a more valuable profession than a person who pushes a mop around a school.  And, by extension, a manager is afforded more respect than a waiter or waitress.  And who tells their child that they should consider school subject matter to become a farmworker instead of a nice office job working with numbers?

In fact, I may be a perfect case in point.  Do you think it's more impressive that I've been a professor of Computer Science or that I've been what some would call a "truck farmer."  You tell me, which one would you encourage your own children to go to school to learn to be?

It is difficult to get away from value judgements about the relative worth of people, animals, things and occupations.  Part of the key is recognizing them for what they are and then moving forward.

If you want to admit it or not, we do work from assumptions that certain occupations are inherently worthy of more respect than others.  It isn't uncommon to hear a parent admonish a child to work hard so they don't end up doing the job someone else is doing - clearly indicating that the person doing the work failed to be successful, so they are stuck doing an undesirable job that is, nonetheless, still a job that needs doing.

Jobs like - cleaning out the chicken coop.

Whether you find it to be annoying or frustrating or whatever, I don't think we'll ever get away from value comparisons because they are simply part of the varied and complex life that is on this Earth.  Inspector is bigger than Soup who is bigger than Murphy.  Murphy will win every foot race with the other two cats as long as all three are given an even chance and they all try their hardest.  Inspector is the strongest of the three and could knock Murphy sprawling ... if he can catch her.

Some jobs have more power simply by nature of what the person must do.  A doctor, by nature of having more knowledge about the human body, has what might be an inordinate amount of power over my health, even though my body is not theirs.  A teacher has a certain amount of power over those who attend classes.  But in those cases, I tend to believe that the members of these professions do well to have the heart of a servant because the responsibility of holding that power is great.

Using myself as an example, once again, I have more skill, aptitude, knowledge in some areas that put me at an advantage when it comes to writing.  Should I hold myself back just so everyone is equal?  Of course not - but how I treat those who do not have the same skillset matters and tells others a great deal about me.  

If my role in a school were to be a director, the person holding the overall strategy of how the school runs, then there is certainly a certain power that I would hold.  Similarly, the janitor holds a particular power as well.  It is different, of course, but no less important.  What matters is how each person holds their responsibilities and uses their skills while treating others with different occupations and abilities with respect that honors who each person is.

It's not supposed to be easy, because the world is gloriously complex.  Everyone is different and the things we do are not easily compared.  Yet we still seek to order things according the power we think they should have.  I guess it might be natural to most humans.  But if we recognize it, we can address it - and maybe come to a better understanding.

Then we can simply say that we can learn a lot about each other by observing how they interact with people who are different from themselves, without the need to ascertain who is superior or who is inferior.  What an interesting thought.