The Power of One

With the Middle East in an uproar, we are reminded that we dare not underestimate the power of single individuals, good and evil. Most of these young nations have exploited their people, ferociously while their dictator amassed a fortune at their expense.

The power of one is not anything new. It is as old as the hills. We can go way back in history and see what single individuals have accomplished. Beginning with Eve who enticed Adam after being duped by an outsider, history goes on with the heroics and exploits of singles like Noah, Nimrod, David and Goliath, Moses, and of course, Jesus and Judas Iscariot.

Unconvinced? Look at Plato, Aristotle, Alexander the Great, Martin Luther, Adolph Hitler Mussolini and Stalin. Then there was Martin Luther King. And before them, a ten year old, born in the 1800s named George McNeill. At ten years old he worked at the Woolen Company in Amesbury in 1847 from 5:00 in the morning until 7:00 in the evening with a 30 minute break for breakfast, 15 minutes for lunch and 35 for dinner.

Alas, in 1852, John Derby became the new manager and thought this was “excessively generous” and eliminated the morning and afternoon breaks. One hundred workers defied orders and were fired. By now George McNeill was 14 and immediately organized the children employed by the mill which began decades of advocacy for many causes including the Massachusetts Bureau of Labor Statistics and later he was active in education and the labor union movement.

Our news often covers children who single handedly originate humanitarian movements as well as adult entrepreneurs who do the same. True, single individuals are as adept in promoting mischief as well as benevolence. And at times, some have a capacity to do good and evil simultaneously. Again, we must never underestimate the power of the individual, whether a reactionary to tyranny or endowed with a powerful sense of righteous indignation or a passion for the underdog.

At times I cannot shrug the lyrics of that old Sunday School song we used to sing with gusto or reverence, or both: You in your small corner and I in mine. Never underestimate the power, for ill or for good, of the individual. Our start may be in a small corner but it could explode. How are things in your corner?