How to empower people

Octavia Tsibes
Jenine van der Westhuizen

When pondering the question, ‘How can we empower people?’ it seems like it must be one of the greatest responsibilities.

I sit quietly and become aware that I can feel my heart beating. Is this possible, I didn’t say or do anything? I can see my chest move with every breath inhaled, and start to think, “Every person must have unrealised ‘power’ beyond measure.”

The Oxford dictionary describes ‘power’ as the capacity or ability to do something or act in a particular way, or to influence the behaviour of others or the course of events.

If we realise that we innately have the capacity or ability to direct our own behaviour, which we do, and through this influence the behaviour of others and the course of events, it comes back to us discovering and realising our own ‘power’ first.

When we look at the word ‘empower’, it is described as ‘giving someone the authority or power to do something, or to make someone stronger and more confident’.

Come to think of it, it seems like ‘power’ in this context is something that must be given to me by someone else.

Does this mean they can take it away or ‘disempower’ me?

I wonder if we give and take ‘power’ from each other, rather than trying to help everyone realise their own ‘power’ beyond measure.

Our ‘power’ as human beings is innately beyond measure; we grow, we evolve, and we change constantly.

The saying goes, ‘with great power, comes great responsibility’, and when we realise our ‘power’, and how our ability to act in a particular way can influence the behaviour of others and the course of events, we should use our ‘power’ with the utmost care and responsibility every day, especially when we are appointed in a position of authority that can influence the lives of others.

Together we have the ‘power’ to responsibly help everyone realise that all of our hearts beat, our chests move when we breath and that we innately have ‘power’ beyond measure that can only be realised together to create the future that we want to have for ourselves, our families, our communities and our country.