If I had all the power in the world

Lindsey Senior Portrait 2007

Many years ago I taught in a language school in Korea. I taught Conversational English. One of the tasks we had our students do was we gave them a list of things to talk about with a partner. I was always glad I wasn't a student in the class because I had no idea how I would answer some of the questions. I will go over a few of those questions in the next few weeks. One question was "If you had all the power in the world what would you do?" Most people answered this question the standard way. The would say they would get rid of hunger around the world. Some said they would get rid of sickness around the world. Many said they would stop all the wars around the world and make everyone friends with each other. My favorite answer of this question was one girl said, and realize this was over 20 years ago and I still remember it, she would make Korean language the world language. She said then she could travel around the world and teach Korean the same way I did it with English.

Jayne Senior Portrait 2009

Ever since I heard that answer I have tried to think of an answer that was more clever. I could never think of a more clever answer than that lady. I think if I had to answer it I would want to give everyone in the world more self-esteem. Many people say other people do bad things because they don't feel good about themselves. I do the same thing. I will do things for other people before I do it for myself because I don't feel like I am good enough to deserve the good things. I don't mind putting myself last. Sometimes I just feel that is all I'm worth, and sometimes I do it because I want the other person to feel good about themselves. I think we all need more self esteem. A woman I care about very much won't stand up to her family because she is worried they won't take her seriously. If she had more self esteem she would realize that her family wants the best for her and she needs to tell them. I can think of many instances where if the person had more self esteem things would be different.

Sarah Senior Portrait 2014

I have a Masters in Personal Centered Education. When asked what it is all about I tell people my masters degree is in how to raise self esteem in the classroom. I had a friend in Korea that used to tell me all the time when I complimented her that it was "just my masters degree talking". What she meant was that I always try to raise other people's self esteem. That is probably true since I truly think if people feel better about themselves they will do their best and really try their hardest to accomplish the goal. Many people would overcome their shyness, have more strength of character, and stand up for others. Can you imagine if some of the worst people in history felt better about themselves so they had compassion for others? The world and history of the world would be totally different. What about you, what would you do if you were omnipotent?