As a kid

 I learned that power only goes so far. For someone to have power over somebody it has to be given to them.

One of the first times I rebelled was over a football. Some kid had the football and kept threatening to take his ball and go home if we didn't do what he wanted.

Quick fix. I raked a few leaves and bought a used football. It wasn't anywhere near as nice as the new one the other kid had but it was a real football.

I put it in a bag and put the bag in the basket of my bicycle and kind of hid it.

Of course, whe the next pickup game started the kid with the ball started being bossy as usual. I simply told him to take his stupid ball and go home. With that I pulled the bag out of my bicycle basket and pulled the ball out of the bag.

Of course, he pointed out that his football was a lot nicer but guess what? Nobody cared. We played the game and had just as much fun with a worn out football as with a new one. We also didn't have to put up with somebody's crap.

Ever since that I have always had somewhat of a 'shoot the hostage' attitude toward things. You take whatever the persn is holding above you away from him, one way or the other. In this case I took away his monopoly on footballs.

Power over someone else only goes so far. You have to look at what they are using to gain their power and either take it from him, destroy it or simply decide the consequences of not playing along are worth it.

In high school one time I was ordered to sit for a detention as one of those 'everyone has detention until someone tells me who threw the penny' deals.

I simply refused to take someone else's rap and stood my ground. I pointed out that I was willing to go the whole mile and bring it to the attention of the school committee or even take it to court.

I won that one. Hands down because of two reasons. First I refused to be intimidated. Second I had my act together and knew that if he pushed and I pushed back the administration would look foolish.

By being in the position of being able to make the vice principal look foolish I had stripped him of his power.

Sometimes you can strip someone's power simply by making it clear you're simply not going to play their silly little game. 



To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY