Aishwarya Hariharan Week 11: Powerless People Making the Change
Powerless People Making the Change
Why do we focus on the people who use power for their own needs? Why don’t we give the proper credit to those who make a real difference in the world? We should be focusing on them instead of the ones who seem to anger us for their abuse of power.
We as a nation hand power to several people. Sometimes during elections, we have no choice but to vote for a person because they are a better fit than others. I remember my history teacher saying “We didn’t vote for Biden because we believed he was going to make a difference. We simply voted for him because he was better than Trump.” It struck me and made me realize that not everyone we have to hand power to will use it for good and at times, we have no other option. That being said, we seem to focus so much on the people who abuse the power they are given that we don’t put enough effort into applauding those who made a small or major difference to help those around them.
For my POAS, I chose to do a female leader named Alice Paul. Alice Paul was born and raised in a Quaker household that strongly believed in gender equality. As she grew up and expanded her life outside of the Quaker communities, she realized how much of an equality difference there is between men and women. She pushed for Woodrow Wilson to pass the 19th Amendment, granting women the right to vote. Just to achieve that one goal, she joined several organizations, participated in several protests, and got arrested 7 times throughout. She went on hunger strikes, and did practically everything she could possibly think of to show her strength and dedication for wanting to pass the 19th Amendment. She was not someone who had any relations to someone ‘popular’ or ‘famous.’ She decided that it was her duty to fight for what she believed in and was raised to believe “equal rights for men and women.” She never once seemed to have it in her to give up no matter how many consequences she was put to face. Yet, to this day, she isn’t someone who is appreciated as highly as she should be. Women are able to vote today because of her and she’s hardly even mentioned or talked about throughout our lives.
We don’t give her enough credit for what she did because especially during her time, it was said to be impossible to change the nation's mind for women’s inability to vote. Studying about her in depth made me realize how much we lack giving credit to those who stood up to this world and our leaders even as a common man. It’s important to start recognizing those people instead of constantly discussing the flaws about our real leaders. At the end of the day, the only reason America has some hope to thrive is because of people like Alice Paul who truly want to improve the lives of others. 
I definitely agree. There is a lot more complaining we do about bad leaders in comparison to praise for good ones. Who our society encourages us to appreciate seems to be highly subjective as well. I just realized there is not even a single national holiday we celebrate in the US that commemorates women. Maybe if we actually start acknowledging good leaders in society, we will actually have better leaders in current day society.
ReplyDeleteWow, I never knew that Alice Paul was the reason women got the right to vote! I agree that many people in history have not had the proper recognition they deserve. I feel that is another reason we study history—to help us remember those we have helped us in the past. Maybe as a society if we spend more time learning about those who have aided humanity, we can be more grateful for how far we have come today.
ReplyDeleteHi Aishwarya,
ReplyDeleteI am truly grateful for Alice Paul and her perseverance to fight for what she believed in. With social media controlling how most of us see society, gaining power has translated into gaining social influence or popularity. We see people by how they present themselves, rather than their actions and core values. Hundreds of individuals are lost in translation, leaving behind the legacies we take for granted. It is certainly time that we give credit where it is deserved and appreciate how anyone can impact reality for the better.
Hi Aishwarya, I agree that the most "powerless" people make the most change. People that are the frontrunners and get all the credit are usually the ones in power or at an advantage, but nothing happens with just one person. There is always more than more person involved in everything from the success of an organization to the passing of the bill. It is important to highlight and appreciate people that often go overlooked like Alice Paul.
ReplyDeleteHey Aishwarya, I completely agree with the point that you make. More often than not, those who are forgotten in history are the ones who have made the greatest impact on history. Those who actually attain power typically do so through luck and other factors that don't necessarily deem those in power worthy. I thought it interesting that you brought up Biden as I think a lot of people have similar thoughts. Biden himself is no one really extraordinary, he's simply a better president that Trump made last year and yet his name will be remembered much more ubiquitously and for much more time than Alice Paul who made a truly revolutionary change for America.
ReplyDeleteHi Aishwarya! I think much of the reason behind why people focus on those who utilize power for their own needs is the the tendency to pay attention to things we dislike. Alice Paul definitely sounds like an inspiring person. My POAS also happens to be a human rights activist. It's sad that so many of these inspiring people are not recognized nearly enough.
ReplyDeleteHey Aishwarya! You bring up a very good point. When I think of power, I admit being hung up over the abuses and misuses of power by powerful people. But, like your POAS, Alice Paul, there are various persons who do not get credit for their impact. Honestly, there could be infinite amounts of people who aren’t given credit because they just are not well-known for their understated yet major impact. These people exist in all the facets of life--entertainment, industry, government, and many more. My Person of American Significance, Walt Disney, was a major player in creating the family entertainment and theme park landscape that we see today. I agree with your ending claim: as a nation, we need to collectively recognize all the trailblazers and game-changers that have truly caused America to prosper and thrive.
ReplyDeleteHi Aishwarya! I believe this issue you mentioned it too often overlooked. There are so many people that are given power that they do not deserve. I remember my parents telling me about how although both our presidential candidates were quite disappointing, the one that was even slightly less bad should be the one to hold the power. I found it funny at the time, but now it does seem awfully concerning. Many of those in power do not deserve the power as they are not acting for the greater good when making their decisions.
ReplyDeleteHi Aishwarya, I found it really interesting to learn about Alice Paul. It was a struggle for women to get the 19th Amendment passed, and women had to work so hard just to obtain a right that every American citizen should have already had. Alice Paul was a real fighter and deserves more recognition. There is a movie about Alice Paul and other suffragists, called “Iron Jawed Angels” that you may have seen, and it’s very powerful. You are definitely right, there are many people who actually want to improve the lives of others, but they do not receive enough attention. Spotlighting such important people would help our society as a whole.
ReplyDelete