ideasarehere

January 26, 2010

Power, who to?

Filed under: general — Erik Dobberkau @ 14:37

New people moving in at the neighbors’ house, which has about 10 flats. As far as I know, there are no pets allowed, which didn’t stop some people from smuggling in one or another. Now come the new neighbors, politely asking for permission to have two cats in their flat, because the cooperative owning the house told them they were ok with it as long as the residents are.

To me this is pretty cool, because this is one of the rare cases when the people who will be affected by a decision are also the ones to decide. You don’t get that very often. But what happened was that they told the new neighbors that they did not feel like they were the ones to decide, but the house owners — the very same people they blame for making stupid decisions without ever asking and so forth.

It’s the same old story: With power comes responsibility. When you’re in charge, you’re in charge 100 per cent. This is the part most people fear, because they’re still clinging to the notion that a decision made is to last forever. But it only lasts until someone raises a hand to say “I disagree”, and their idea catches on. Also worth noting: If the power that has been given to you is taken away, you haven’t lost anything. (Tell your Congress Member.)

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