COMMENTARY: Learning the difference between power and authority

c. 1999 Religion News Service (Tom Ehrich is a writer and computer consultant, managing large-scale database implementations. He lives in Durham, N.C.) UNDATED _ I didn’t object when a knee injury kept me out of Vietnam, a war that seemed pointless and foolish. It seemed then, and now, a political shell game that spun out […]

c. 1999 Religion News Service

(Tom Ehrich is a writer and computer consultant, managing large-scale database implementations. He lives in Durham, N.C.)

UNDATED _ I didn’t object when a knee injury kept me out of Vietnam, a war that seemed pointless and foolish.


It seemed then, and now, a political shell game that spun out of control, allying our decent nation with thugs and thieves. It tore apart a generation for no discernible purpose other than feeding the political gamesmanship of the old men who declare wars and send young men and women to fight in them.

Since starting to consult at U.S. Navy bases in Europe, however, I have come to realize that I missed something.

I missed the opportunity to serve my country in a more tangible way than paying taxes. I missed some important growing-up lessons about other people and about myself. Not only did Vietnam cheat me of a peaceful college career and drive a wedge still sundering my generation, but it perverted a normal and healthy rite of passage: military service.

Nothing is all that black-and-white, of course. Vietnam wasn’t a descent into insanity for everyone. Some still think it was necessary. Some wish the old men had let the warriors do it right. I don’t want to waste another minute of my life debating that war.

My awareness isn’t a reassessment of an old argument, but a simple recognition that the young men and women whom I am meeting in the Navy are having an experience that I wish I had had.

It’s hard to express. Military bases aren’t exotic places. They tend to be workmanlike, filled with machinery and people crammed in small spaces, more like factories than college campuses. Much of a sailor’s or soldier’s work wouldn’t qualify as”adventure.”The uniforms, inspections and routines probably get old.

But the people I meet have a clear sense of mission, they learn to work in teams, and they learn the difference between authority and power.


That difference between authority and power is critical to maturity and wisdom. It can be subtle, almost indistinguishable. You have to sit with a group of officers for a while before you realize that rank tells only part of the story. Rank confers power. But some who have rank also have authority, and some don’t.

Authority has to do with being listened to, being respected as a person, not as a source of pain or gain. Authority has to do with both knowledge and wisdom, being able to see deeply into situations, being able to vision, to see the whole, to look beyond the moment’s agenda. Authority has to do with knowing when to listen, when to bend, when to change course.

Authority has to do with leadership in its finest sense, not martinets demanding obedience, small people making loud noises, or pretentious people scheming to get perks and privileges.

The Christian community, in my view, badly needs to examine this distinction between authority and power. Jesus gave us authority, but what we have craved is power.

Jesus gave us a mission to proclaim good news. Too often, we have pronounced judgment, because judgment feeds fear, and the fearful can be more easily compelled.

Jesus gave us a mission to heal the sick. Too often, we have exploited the sick, turning their diseases into profitable enterprises.


Jesus gave us a mission to drive out evil spirits. Too often, we have labeled our political and cultural enemies as evil and tried to drive them out into the desert.

Jesus told us to give away the world’s tokens of power. Too often, we have looted and lusted, worshipping the false-god image on Caesar’s coin, as if God wanted us to be rich.

Jesus gave us a model of patience, compassion and serenity, for those are hallmarks of authority. Too often, we have wanted only the ephemeral benefits that come from power.

Viewed through this lens of power vs. authority, the Vietnam War seems to have been an exercise in power, standing in stark contrast to the moral authority underlying the more recent intervention in Kosovo. The more firepower we loosed onto Vietnam, the worse it became. That is what happens when power runs the show.

DEA END EHRICH

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