The main character is a Congressman who is his party's whip in Congress and is therefore quite 'powerful' but he wants more power. He is also totally unprincipled and ruthless and intends one day, sooner rather than later, to be President. The reason I am somewhat ashamed to admit to watching this is that I find it very gripping to watch. This man, charming, lethal and indeed evil, is amazing to watch as he uses and abuses the people he needs. He knows how to use the power he has - or what passes for power in most governments I suspect.
So, the other day I began to think about power as it is often perceived in our societies. This is generalizing I suppose but I think I may not be far wrong. For instance, we think money confers power: it buys things and people and influence; we think position confers power: it influences big decisions, it also buys people, it has 'importance'. I could go on but you will know yourself some good examples.
I would think that almost all of this kind of power brings with it the ability to manipulate, to regulate, to overwhelm, to use. This implies, of course that there are many other human beings who are then the used, the abused, the manipulated, the powerless, the throw-aways. It is not a very pleasant picture of humanity.
My further thought then took me to Jesus and his relationship with and use of whatever power he may have had. I am for instance, presuming he had the power of a certain personal charisma or he would not have attracted people's attention. But he certainly didn't have position or money, that is made clear all the time. He also did not have the power to stop people putting him to death - or at least he chose not to stop them. He could not - indeed still cannot - force people to believe in the truth he speaks or the message he brought - and still brings. So, by our standards he was one of the really powerless people.
And yet, though his message is often abused or misused (as it was when he was alive in the flesh) he still has a power far beyond that of anyone else who ever lived. It is a power we all appreciate I think, whether we believe the dogmas or doctrines, because it is a power that speaks to our hearts. It is the power of love and forgiveness and compassion and care. We all want to be loved, to be forgiven, to experience compassion and to be cared for. We know its healing power and we know how awful life is when all this is missing. This kind of power is what we are meant to live with one another, not the power that Frank Underwood and many - too many - people try to achieve.
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| All these people are the powerful powerless. |
Learning about this is part of the journey of Lent.
1 comment:
I can't say I've watched House of Cards, but I certainly am familiar with people who feel they need to grab power. It seems to me that these are insecure people who feel powerless and are trying to compensate. Truly powerful people have nothing to prove and are free to be themselves. It seems like this is the way we can heal both ourselves and the world around us.
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