Through the weaving of the tapestry many patterns have emerged about power from within. The first pattern that seemed to emerge was the recurring idea that personal power can come from anything and that everyone gets their own personal power from different things. The poem Power by Edwina Matthews as well as the collection of images, both support this pattern. The survival story of Aron Ralston also supports this as he got his power from his will to survive. Another common theme that emerged was the idea that the power from within is extremely, well, powerful. This starts with the quote by Lao-Tzu which states "He who controls others may be powerful, but he who has mastered himself is mightier still" which is basically saying power over others is good, but power from within is almighty. This is reassured by Aron Ralston's story in which he could have had all the strength humanly possible and still would not have survived but luckily he had exceptional personal power which allowed him to persevere and save his own life. All of these sources have implied in one way or another that we, as humans, are weak and unadaptable without the power from within. We all have the power within us to do great things, it is just a matter of what we will do.
Power over Others
Through the weaving of the tapestry, many things have became apparent above power over others. Every source that I looked at for this assignment seemed to have the same recurring idea. They all seemed to say that putting people in power is a bad idea. The quote by Jimi Hendrix, the short story Just Lather, That's All by Hernado Tellez, the novel Martyn Pig by Kevin Brooks, and the song Power by Kanye West all have the message that when power falls into the wrong hands it can have extremely damaging results. This is also the case in the flash fiction piece I wrote in which a man in a position of power kills citizens based on their religion. It seems as if these variety of sources are all questioning societies willingness to give obscene amounts of power to people even after so many abuses that have occurred. This can be extended to say that these selections are suggesting that our world would be a better place without putting people into power. Would life really be better without positions of power? These sources sure think so.
