We are all placed in a leadership role when the time comes for us to stand up for our rights. So, like it or not, at one time or another we all must be leaders. Jesus taught that we are to be servant leaders focusing on the service that we can provide rather than the power that we can exercise. All of us even without much hierarchal power greatly exercise the power to influence. Children are a good example. Without much hierarchal power, they vastly influenced the home with their influential power. So when we need to stand up for our rights, at the outset we should apply the Golden rule. We need to conceptualize all that impinges upon the attitude and behavior of those who we see as curtailing our rights (the mature approach). An understanding of their assumptions and pressures – both internal and external – greatly facilitates our advance while embodying an attitude of confidence and helpfulness rather than anger and recrimination. (Empathy is the prerequisite for compassion.) The person in power may respond in a fashion that indicates they think we should be appreciative rather than demanding. In fact, we must be both. Appreciative and demanding of ourselves and others. This is the only approach that allows us to fully exercise the disciplines of love which undergird all successful human relationships.
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