With Great Power

I love NPR! It has long been a staple in my life, as a regular listener and sustaining member of my Philly local station, WHYY. Mostly, I listen in the car as the shows keep me company on long excursions and short trips. The various programming affords me driveway and parking lot moments, since I can’t pull myself away from the conversations to get out of the car.

Yesterday, I was listening to This American Life and there was a replay from 2006. It was called ‘With Great Power’. The throughline of each of the ‘three acts’ was the idea that with great power comes great responsibility to decide what to do with it. There is a discussion in various articles about the origin of that line, from philosophers to politicians, to a character in a Spider Man movie.

I do like the concept. When we have power in some form, we always have a choice about how to exercise it. Do we use it for good or evil? Do we take advantage of another person’s vulnerability when we have the upper hand? A highly developed sense of conscience is necessary to tip the balance in the direction of justice and not retribution.

The first act started by exploring a scene from Schindler’s List in which the main character is speaking with survivors and their families about his regret that he didn’t do more to save Jews during the Holocaust. The possessions he owned could have made the difference between living and dying for more people. The story goes on to talk about two people whose work is with children at risk, and despite their dedication, fear that they aren’t doing enough.

The second act tells the story of a woman who grew up with an absent father who was also abusive when he was around and accused of sexually assaulting a girl. She has an encounter with him as an adult when he spontaneously stopped by for a visit. That night, she suspects that he committed a crime but wasn’t sure of the nature, since he was acting suspiciously and then took off. Years later, she hears about a murder that took place the same night and has the horrific revelation that it was her father who was the perpetrator. She went to the police but they didn’t take her suspicions seriously and instead, bury her report.

Fast forward and another man who is erroneously accused of killing the woman, is tried and convicted and sentenced to two decades in prison. His wife does all she can to get him exonerated. Somehow, the original storyteller hears about him, and speaks to the wife and confronts the police, insisting that they look for her report which was not admitted into evidence in the convicted man’s hearing. They find it and he is released, but not until he had served 13 years. He was grateful to her and called her his angel. She didn’t feel angelic and instead, felt overwhelming shame that she didn’t speak up more assertively in the beginning and her father would have been investigated and this man would not have been implicated. She was angry that her father got away with murder before he died.

The third narrative is about a family who moves into a neighborhood from a city and find themselves living next to a vindictive man who does everything he can to make their lives miserable because of a property line dispute. He stalks them, spies on them, chases their child around who is riding his bike, burns vile words in their lawn, kills their cat…you get the picture. Not a good person. They report him over and over to the police who do nothing. He turns other neighbors against them. Then, they discover information about him that could ruin him socially, professionally and legally and have to decide whether to out him. What they choose to do with the information had me puzzled. I don’t want to spoil it for you in case you decide to listen.

I consider myself a person of privilege, if not power. I’m white, well educated, professional, middle class financially, cis-gender, adjacent to power because ‘I know people,’ in the media and political realms. Because of that, I have a responsibility to speak out against discrimination. Because of that, I have a responsibility to donate what I can to causes that benefit people and the planet. Because of that, I have a responsibility to protect those who can’t protect themselves. I was having a conversation about that with folks last night at a fundraising gala I attended. The beneficiary is an organization called Laurel House which provides domestic violence services in our community. My role was a participant in a way cool opportunity called 40 Over 40. 40 women had our photos taken that showcased our strength and new chapters of our lives as we crossed that pivotal age line. I am 40 plus 27 at this time. The evening was a combination of good food, good fun and good people. At our table was a couple I had crossed paths with last year. They participated in a musical called Hidden that was composed by my friends Jenny and David Heitler-Klevans.

It told the story of a Jewish child named Ruth Kapp during the Nazi occupation of France and the lengths her parents went to protect her. Two of my table mates were Linda (she participated in the photo project as well) and Roy Braverman. She played the dual roles of adult Ruth and Mother Superior (as Linda Glazerman Roeder) and Roy was in the orchestra. The show was phenomenal, heart rending, and a reflection of what is happening in the world even now. I had interviewed the three women who portrayed Ruth for an article that was published by The Good Men Project. The dream of the producers and cast is to take the show to the Broadway stage. That takes money. I told them that if I had a gazillion dollars, I would be ever so happy to be an investor. In the meantime, I can continue to spread the word about the show.

There is a difference between being powerful and overpowering. Our current administration attempts to overpower and not empower people to do good in the world. How will you use your power to be an upstander and servant leader?