Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Power plays and relationships

There is a certain Russian philosopher who described friendship akin to slavery. Now, I think the man was a bit too harsh. Friendship is a beautiful gift…
I think what he meant was the concept of power play. In every relationship there is an element of power play, no matter how subtle. Even in friendship or a marriage.



There is always one who adjusts slightly more than the other. You might not have noticed it, but when you go out for say dinner with your friends, the few minutes spent debating on the choice of cuisine, will pretty much determine the power-play relations. One will relent and go in for what the group wants, and there still might be one who imposes his/her wish – no one orders any mushroom dish today; please guys not Chinese! Someone will accede. Subtle choices, but the dominant player is established.

Many married couples and families’ power structure is determined based on who controls the remote. Is the bully elder brother adamant about forcing everyone to watch TNA Wrestling or is the youngest daughter controlling enough that each dinner must be had with Bob The Builder playing in the background.

Every relation is a two-way street. However how big your lane is, is decided by how you adjust to the power structure.

2 comments:

Damon K said...

with Bush, you expect a narrow lane! you never know when he sees a WMD and wants to control you..for pete's sake he shot Dick while bird huntin'

Aravind Thhotukum said...

What about oil? Did you see Blood Diamond, that guy said god forbid if they found oil in Africa...we have got enuff troubles of our own.