The Greatest Power Is Shared Power

​The problem in most conflicts isn’t who has power. It’s the belief that power must belong to only one side.

Elliott and I went to see the new Pixar movie yesterday: Hoppers. Basically, the movie is a story about man versus the animal kingdom. And at times, the animal kingdom versus man.

In ways that can only be orchestrated in movies, both sides had their turn to hold the power in their dispute. And when their turn came, both sides used it to make the situation worse.

Only when both sides came to see that sharing power was more powerful than owning it all did the situation resolve. And not just resolve, but end better than either side could have imagined when they held all the power.

I left the movie thinking: yep, when it comes to power, we have to rely on Pixar to create animated stories that make it even remotely possible to dream of a world that discovers the power in sharing power.

Our country is at war right now, in spite of our president suggesting it's merely an excursion on our end. And much of the language we hear in this global conflict - even in everyday conversations online - makes it sound like a contest:

Who is strongest?

Who dominates?

Who can “obliterate” the other side?

Who controls the outcome?

But history keeps teaching the same lesson. Victory through domination has never led to peace. It only plants the seeds for the next conflict.

In Hoppers, the story shifts when power stops being something to possess and starts becoming something to share. That’s when cooperation begins. Relationships form. Solutions appear that neither side could reach alone.

Is there anything more fantasy - more science fiction - than a world outside the movie theater where power becomes something people long to share more than possess?

And I’m not even talking about world politics and wars alone.

Marriages break down because people want to possess power more than share it.

Churches divide because people want to possess power more than share it.

Business partnerships divide.

Families divide.

Small town communities divide.

All because the thirst for power becomes too insatiable to share with another.

And it’s sad, really. Because I have seen this movie come to life often in small circles. The part where people choose connection over possession of power. And the result becomes a kind of beauty I could have never imagined, even if I owned all the power in the world.

I’ve seen the kind of connections that can form when people fight harder to understand one another than they fight to dominate one another. I’ve seen solutions arise like magic in problems where solutions once felt unimaginable.

It makes me wonder if maybe the opposite of connection is the thirst for power? I know it's at least one of the opposites.

Maybe we can’t end a war today. But we can listen more than we fight to be heard.

We can try to make someone feel more comfortable in our presence instead of trying to intimidate them.

We can long to see more than we demand to be seen.

We can try on the other side’s shoes in a conflict instead of insisting everyone must wear ours.

I don't know, but if you need a little hope and inspiration about the power of shared power, I can strongly recommend going to see Hoppers. Because I concede, without hope, this world can begin to feel hopelessly powerless.