I am begining to see Authority as the force behind Power. One with an authority has power to do something to which the authority was given. The authority does not only give literal power but also the physical power. Take for instance. A man who is legally married to his wife can develop a tremendous power over another man who has an illegal affair with his wife. I knew the above instance before and that was not the case that moved me to write this. The reason why i write this article came up after i watched a drama in the hospital where i work. At a particular scene of the drama, i asked myself, what or who actually gives authority? I discovered that many things can give one authority. Some of those things include: certificate, personality, right, law, office, knowledge, etc. No wonder they said that knowledge is power. On the other hand, a person with higher rank can give one authority. Ofcourse, Gods authority is the ultimate. His authority does not only give power but also Dominion. But my article emphasizes on the authority given by inanimate materials such as right, knowledge, certificate and office. I called it a drama earlier but actually it was a real fight. A policewoman brought her sick daughter to the hospital. The child was admitted. The policewoman since the admission of the daughter had been trying to exercise some kind of authority and power in the hospital over the attendants to her sick child...but she does not have the right which would have issued her the authority. It was hospital and not the road or the police station. Hospital has entirely different settings. The lady police kept bringing herself up until she met a female nurse....her fellow woman. The nurse, ofcourse, does not tolerate nonsense from anyone. She cannot be ordered around when she has her right and when she is in the office because she has the knowledge and the certificate. As you can see, the nurse has authority issued at that time in the hospital by many items. The policewoman entered the office and told the nurse that her childs drip has stopped flowing. Meanwhile, it was the policewoman that stopped the flow unknowingly when she was trying to increase the flow rate. By the time the nurse went there, the drip was already fast flowing. It was the policewomans sister that, by trial and error method, opened the drip to the maximum. The nurse was angry on seeing that and querried the action but the policewoman insisted that the nurse was not a qualified one...imagine that! They picked querrel on each other. The lady police moved so far that she pushed the nurse while on duty. It was at this time that i discovered that authority gives physical power as well. Not minding that she had undergone training, the nurse gave the policewoman a blow on the mouth and summarized the show with multiple slaps. Immediately, blood oozed out and the woman could not do anything further than to use her bleeding mouth to gather audience. By the time people gathered the nurse had already gone back to her office. I cannot finish writing what went on between the two but the outstanding thing in the drama is the role of authority over the case. Afterwards, the policewoman understood that she had no authority in the hospital and therefore has no power over any medical staff. She cried and told audience how she handles criminal. But she couldnt do anything when beaten by the nurse because she had no authority. My advice: Let one not exhibit power when one has no authority or else one would be embarrassed. Before you act, check if u have the authority. Your right can give you that authority. Let us always act wisely.
Posted on: Wed, 17 Sep 2014 15:11:34 +0000