Balance of Power

“Remember, with great power. Comes great responsibility.” A quote from a classic comic book hero Spiderman. For those who don’t know whom I am talking about. Spiderman is a character created my Stan Lee. Peter Parker, a character that is bit by a radioactive spider and given special abilities.  Peter got some advice from his uncle, saying “with great power. Comes great responsibility.” This is festinating because; when given power you can feel like you’re on top of the world. Power can be expressed in many ways and treated differently. In most comic books, this power is expressed as hero’s (good), and villains (bad). The main difference between the heroes and the villains is how they use their powers. Heroes like Spiderman choose to use their powers to help others. Whereas; villains are only interested in personal gain.

In East, West, a series of short stories by Salman Rushdie. In the story “the Prophets Hair” is a character named Hashim. Hashim finds his power in the form of a sacred vial containing the hair of the prophet Muhammad. Rather then returning to its shrine “to restore peace and equanimity” as he should have done since he had found the vial by “a stroke of good fortune” (Rushdi, 43) Greed forced him to keep the vial for himself, a true sign of a villain. He quickly became obsessed with the powers the vial has possessed upon him. This is shown by the way he treats his family. Punishing them for not abiding to the rules that have been set by Hashim.

Power can be devastating if too much of it is given to an individual person. Since, Hashim came across the vial. His greed caused him to become a different person and nothing but bad things to been happen to him. Atta, Hashim's son, is beaten to near death by his father, when it was discovered he tried to take it.  The power of the vial tore apart his family and eventually killed them. Later, the vial was stolen from his house. Bringing misfortune to Sheikh, eventually killing him and affecting the loved ones around him.

With great power comes great responsibility, and if your greedy and take the power when your not ready for it. Nothing good will ever come of it. Hashim’s greed prohibited him from doing the right thing of returning the vial which proved to be a horrible decision for him and his family.