While the rich use their bulging pockets, the poor get pounded repeatedly and most of them are defenceless. They have no fortresses for defence - only their faith to see them through.

However, faith can lead to more blessing and eventually to the means of defending oneself. Every power, no matter how lethal it is, has the blind side that may be exploited to good advantage. Power, mind you, is like a tomato, which always decays after a certain period of ripeness. For that matter, power, too, has many seeds but never grows again in the same spot.

That reminds me of an interesting documentary filmed in India of rats that had to struggle for a living in a rice field. Experts said the rats were living happily in a farm until one farmer decided to grow rice in their patch. He decided to get rid of the animals first before starting to cultivate the field. He managed to drive them away and the rodents just disappeared out of the sight.

They waited patiently at another site until the harvest was ready and then started feeding on the crop. The farmer was outraged and vowed to eradicate them from "his land". He hired "rat catchers" who reduced their numbers but could not exterminate them completely. The survivors soon found a way of going back to their land by burrowing and living underground. They soon caused enough havoc for the farmer to abandon the field.

We can draw such examples from many walks of life. It all has to do with greed and gaining a yard or so of advantage. We see it - and the ferocious campaigns that follow - all the time. When a lion roars, the sound thunders across the jungle to carry a territorial message. Power brings docility and a false sense of friendship. You have no friends but only obedient companions meekly saying "yes" to avoid the repercussions.

However, it has a dangerous disposition when small pockets of resistance get together. The companions, seeing the opportunity to turn the table, become excellent providers to the oppressed. Power creates a natural distance that keeps everybody away. The distance provides an unprotected void and a soft landing touch when the tide is strong enough to turn. Real strength lies when collective forces meet on equal terms without scruples.

When sticks are grouped together, the longer one is always vulnerable because it is not wholly protected. That tells you that even the strongest may need the protection of well-organised minions.

What happened to common sense that power protects and which, if put in good use, gives the weak the right to stand on their own two feet? We live in a world that every gain, whether needed or not, is a symbol of ownership that should not be parted without imposing a condition.

"Better to live and have less than not to live at all," is a slogan worth remembering in the moment following a power struggle. In every twist and turn of a peaceful life lies a treasure of true friendship if every one were to refrain from flexing a muscle. God knows how long that muscle can stretch before it is reduced to a useless blubber of flesh. Good things come to those who are patient for they are the likely candidates to eat the overripe tomato.

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