Since the beginning of the world, the struggle of power has been dominant, The ones who "think" they are power dominate those who appear weaker. The weak are conquered by the "powerful" and continue to live a life of submission. In some rare instances, the weak rise up, and overthrow the powerful leader. Would you rather live a life a power or one of submission? The choice is ultimately yours.
This power struggle is something that has overtaken me for years. In school, I was the world's worth athlete. Always picked last for every team, I would hide as far back on every court and field I could, hoping that no ball would ever makes it way to me because I did not want to screw up the outcome of the game and give the team captain a reason to keep picking me last.
In college, favoritism abounded, and I found myself phased out at almost every turn by those my professor's deemed as more outgoing and gifted.
Eventually I found myself insided comedy clubs delievering jokes based upon my earlier plights with the bulies. And much to my surprise, I soon discovered that even audiences could be bullies, as hecklers began to emerge at some shows. It seems like every where I went I was beat down and defeated. The truth is, I quit many projects and jobs along the way, because I just wasn't strong enough to complete them, or so I thought. Then, one day, it all changed.
I would not consider myself an overly religious person, but nonetheless, I found myself sitting in front of a television set while out on the road doing comedy shows, when the channel rested on a televangelist and I heard these particular words, which would later change the course of my life: (and I am paraphrasing here because I can't remember word for word)
"From the moment we are born, God endows us with two things, power and authority! He equips the Devil with only Power, but NOT authority."
So what does this mean exactly? It means that within each one of us, we have the power and authority to do whatever we want to do in this life. And that our power is always there, whether we choose to use it or not. Many times, we don't feel powerful, so our powers lay dormant, without being utilized. Any of us who have been bullied have felt powerless against our bullies, but ironically have had the power to conquer them within our midst all along,, but we haven't. Why?
The truth is, we have confused the roles of power and authority in our lives. Authority is the one thing that no powerful person can ever take away from you. The only way they can take it is if you GIVE it to them! Every time you don't stand up for yourself or take control in a bullying situation, you give a little bit of your authority away.
The GREAT NEWS is, you can always take it back! And we are here to help you every step of the way!!
-- Bryan Lee, SDL (Sports Diversity Leader)
Founder of 100% Bully-Proof