The Power to Protect

February 24, 2026

Many years ago, I was with my son at one of numerous sports injury consults. The specifics of that particular injury have faded from my memory, but not the words of the doctor treating my son. At the end of the appointment, he looked at my pre-teen son and said, “I can tell that you’re going to be a big, tall guy as you mature. You can use your power to hurt or help others. You’ll need to make that decision for yourself.” Although I doubt that my son recalls that doctor’s words from many years ago, I was grateful to have the relationship between power and responsibility stated so clearly.

Those wise words have resonated with me throughout the years — most especially in my work with survivors. For every child who is abused, in any way, there is someone who has used their power and strength to cause harm. From that moment on, that child will know that they are no match for the kind of power that asserts its way regardless of the needs or vulnerability of the child. This irresponsible use of power becomes a weapon to silence a child’s voice and deeply instill the message that the world is not a safe place, that trust does not exist.

I don’t know about you, but it seems to me that our daily newsfeed is exceptionally full of examples of power being used to harm others. Perhaps this has always been the case — an unfortunate aspect of the human condition. Nonetheless, it pains me deeply to hear and see story after story of how power is used to coerce, exploit, overpower, and ultimately gravely harm our fellow human beings. It is easy to find oneself feeling helpless in the face of this kind of irresponsible expression of power that blindly asserts dominance over another.

It is common to fear those who have more power, especially when one’s life has been gravely impacted by that power. There is a reason that so many survivors of abuse live with the anxiety condition defined as PTSD.  Being harmed by power often results in the victim internalizing the belief that power equals domination and is to be feared and avoided at all costs.

It can be difficult to envision a notion of power that is used to help oneself or others or to create positive and lasting change. This kind of power increases agency, capacity, and transformation. In the simplest terms, there is a vast difference between power over that seeks to control and dominate and power to which empowers self and other to act in ways that bring healing and growth. It’s worth revising our vision of power from destruction to empowerment — the kind of power that engenders confidence in one’s ability to make positive and lasting change in one’s own life, one’s community, and in the greater world.

Whether we realize it or not, every moment of the day each of us has the capacity and responsibility to act in ways that exemplify the proper use of power. What might this world of ours be like if we all held a vision of power that engages and enlarges our capacity to do good in the world? What if our notion of power was less about control and more about responsibility? What if the use of power meant, how can we protect the most vulnerable among us? Perhaps we all need to head the words of that physician long ago – will we use our power to hurt or to help? The decision is ours.