The power of one individual

The power of one. The power of a single solitary soul can change the course of human history. The power of just one individual willing or driven to stand-up against authority can express by their actions the feelings of the masses. And, so it was in mid-December when a poor fruit peddler by the name of Mohamed Bouazizi, after being harrased by the police said no more and in the front of the police station put himself ablaze in Tunisia. His flaming body burned so brightly that it started a revolution that brought an end to two dictatorships, one in Tunisia and one in Egypt … and the revolution in the middle-east is still spreading. The power of one. The power of a single solitary soul that changes the course of human history.

The power of one was witnessed in the fourth century when a little non-descript monk, Telemachus, from modern day Turkey, was prompted by an inner voice to visit Rome. It was the day for the “circus” in the Roman Coliseum. What he saw taking place touched his spirit and drove him to do something. Two gladiators were fighting and one was about to kill the other. Telemachus jumped over the wall and ran to stand between the two, shouting, “In the name of Christ, forbear!” Telemachus was the one killed that day in the Roman Coliseum by gladiator’s sword. The cheering crowd fell silent as they saw the pool of blood of the little dead monk. They left the stadium in silence. Just three days later the Emperor offered a decree that ended the Games. The power of one … the power of a single solitary soul …

The annuals of history of other such men and women who stood-up against authority and changed the course of history. Martin Luther against his beloved Catholic Church; Gandi against the entire British Empire; Nelson Mandella against the white government of South Africa; Sister Theresa against the poverty and the disease of India; Martin Luther King, Jr. against white American’s oppression of the people of color … The power of one … the power of a single solitary soul. Not with weapons, not with violence, not with armys, not with military might, but with a conviction that something has to change and it had to start some where. The power of one … the power of a single solitary soul.

Jesus spoke of the power of one when he instructed his followers to go into all the world baptizing individuals in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. We can change the world one person at a time. We can be the power of one … the power of a single solitary soul who is willing to step forward against hatred and bigotry wherever we find it. The power of a single solitary sould who is willing to step forward against hunger, poverty and homelessness in the very towns in which we live. We can be the power of one … we can be that one single solitary soul stands in the gap for those who cannot stand and give voice to the voiceless. Like the poor fruit peddler or the non-descript monk we neither have to be powerful nor famous we just have to be willing.

Quote for today: "The power of one man or one woman doing the right thing for the right reason, and at the right time, is the greatest influence in our society." ~Jack Kemp