"People most respect the powerful not when they exercise their power, but when they refrain from exercising it."Write an essay in which you develop and support a position on the statement above. In writing your essay, you should consider both when the sta

Power gives the beholder enormous, often unrestrained control over the matters of the mundane. One view states that those who are powerful earn people's reverence most when they refrain from exercising their power. Some may argue to this statement by saying that people who don't shy away from wisely using the ropes of control are the ones that are most respected. On careful examination of evidence it is fairly certain that appropriate use of power whenever needed is the stand accepted by the society.

Those that would oppose to exercising control may do so by stating instances, like the Nazi rule, where unchecked controls lead to serious consequences. However, if such an amount of power was used properly, it would have led to far better consequences than what history evidently tells us. It was not the use of power but the unfair and incorrect implementation that led to the Holocaust.

An example that pops up in ones mind whenever the question of power comes up is the system of regulation of law and order, where hierarchy of authority gives a specific amount and type of control in each officer's hand. If a policeman at a crime scene in case of an emergency uses the powers vested upon him and brings the situation under control, he earns praise and respect from everywhere. He is unable to do so if he's just a puppet in his Superiors' hands waiting for orders to exercise powers in such situations.

Another entity that has the power to drastically change the course of happening if used wisely is a nation's government. A feeble government will never be able to revive a sinking economy unless it does everything in its power to fuel the economy. The use of strength by powerful militant nations is of great help to appease unrest in other countries where political, social and religious reasons or issues of security have caused unresolved turmoil. The United Nations uses all possible means for betterment of this world, and can do so only by exercising the authority and power it has.

In conclusion, it is clear that the powerful are in people's good books when they use their strength, of course wisely, and their power is instrumental in bringing about a change. The dialogue from the movie Spiderman says, "With great power, comes great responsibility". I would like to rephrase it as "With great power, comes great responsibility, and the wise use of the power earns great respect from the people."