Power

What really is power? As Latter-day Saints, we believe that God is all powerful, that He is omnipotent and omniscient; however, He reserves one thing for us to have that He does not now possess nor control, our free agency. So, no matter how much He hurts when we make stupid decisions and I'm sure it's incredibly frustrating for Him to see us make so many mistakes He will not force us to do anything, even the most powerful being in the universe cannot control us. However, as Professor Burton has mentioned several times in class, we believe in a God that uses words and communicates to us with language, how He helps us make right decisions is through communication in scripture and Prophets, He also gives us the influence of the spirit, which we usually describe as a feeling. It isn't a normal feeling, like love or fear or even joy, sometimes those feelings come as a result of feeling the spirit, but feeling the spirit is different, yet for most who feel it they almost always describe it as a feeling.

The Greeks understood similar principles in their own way, as I watched Hecuba I was impressed, disturbed, and struck by the power that language had. Hecuba herself, as some have mentioned in previous posts, said that none of the other arts were as important as the art of persuasion, because it allows one to influence and control the actions of others. Hecuba's usage of persuasion came through language but almost always she utilized ethos by appealing to pathos. She used her grief and then her and her families position in an appeal to ethos in order to influence the feelings of those around her. It shows just how powerful our emotions have on others. When someone smiles at me, I smile back not because it's polite, but because I feel like doing it! When I heard Hecuba's moaning and screaming I felt the chills and was disturbed. Although I knew that the revenge that ended up occurring was totally wrong it didn't seem like such a bad thing after being influenced by Hecuba's grief, it was after all, justice. You see how powerful that is? An appeal to our emotions through dramatic language can change so much about us!