As a teenager strength is mostly determined as who has the most power, i.e. muscles. Who has the biggest muscles? Who benches the most weight? These seem to be the things people in today’s society care about. This kind of strength is determined by forever changing things. This kind of strength is not forever. This kind of strength weakens with time. No one can be the strongest forever. Everyone will die eventually and everyone knows that dead people cannot hold or attain strength. It is a sad thought really, that strength is limited and cannot last forever, because lets face it, everyone wants to be strong and known.
In cartoons I always thought it was ironic that the strongest man, the superhero, had a sidekick. What was the sidekick for? To me I always found it silly to have someone by your side if you are the strongest. Although there is strength in numbers, the numbers weaken individual strength. If, for example, a group of men win a group fighting match, then the group is recognized at being strong but there is no individual power given to a single person. Recognition is key while speaking about power because being known is being strong.
The ancient Romans used to recognize strength. The strongest men would be the leader. In the paintings, the gods always have big toned muscles. Being strong and showing the strength was a very important part of their culture because it was the strong who would survive. The strongest were also the champions. In the Olympics, the champions were determined by strength. The discus throwers were very powerful and it showed great strength to be champion.
Now-a-days strength is still assumed as the most muscles but it also is about amount of power. For example, the president of the United States of America is one of the most powerful men in the world. He is basically in charge of a world power country, yet he is not portrayed as having great big muscles. No, he holds his power in his decisions and words. Strength in muscles is, to some extent, not very strong at all. There is another saying that goes, “there will always be someone stronger” and that is true. No matter how strong you are, you are not invincible.
When I was in 8th grade Physical Education, I remember my class went into the weight room for the first time. All the guys were excited about getting strong. When Mr. Miller was trying to explain how to use the equipment the boys were fiddling around with the weights, being so excited to get started. And then there were the girls. The girls could really care less about getting “ripped” as us boys called it back then. The girls just wanted to sit down and gossip about “who likes who” and “OMG I think he likes me”. This always caught my attention and it was then when I really got an understanding of characteristics of males and females. Although there are a growing number of females striving for power, it is the men who are based on strength. They have a competitive nature that defines their status.
Once I moved on from middle school and finally made it to high school, a new type of strength came about. And that was the strength of perseverance. As a freshman I thought that high school was going to be hard and I admired the upper class men and thought that they were so strong for passing the classes. Although I later found out that high school was very easy, it still does not take away from the strength that one has to persevere and to keep moving. I will admit that there were some tough challenges I faced in high school and I had to build up strength to get past them all.
Being strong makes you a big target. Whenever there is a wrestling or boxing match on TV, the most important and popular ones are the ones where someone is trying to defend a title. In baseball, the defending World Champions are always the team to beat. Because beating the best team or person, makes you the best. Although that is not always the case, the title of strength is much greater than the actual reality of it. As I said before, there is always someone greater than you who will want to take you down and thus thrusting yourself into the position of strongest man in the world.
Although strength is mainly associated with men there are a lot of examples of very strong women. First off the athletes like Misty May-Treanor and Venus Williams are strong, as in muscular women athletes. Misty May-Treanor was a gold metal winner at the 2008 Summer Olympics and Venus Williams is an internationally known tennis player who has also won many championships. On the other hand there are women like Hillary Clinton and Meg Whitman who have become very strong leaders. Hillary Clinton is now the Secretary of State under the Obama Administration. She has been very influential throughout the world and has supported many causes like the Haitian Earthquake back in 2010. Meg Whitman is currently the president and CEO of Hewlett-Packard and ex CEO of eBay. She also ran for Governor of California but lost.
I mentioned various types of strength throughout this blog. It is a very interesting concept that can be examined to different meanings. I think a big part of strength is determined by ones character. Some people want power and to be strong and yet others are more passive and know that they don’t have a chance at being strong and they just watch other people became the best and just like that fall back down and get beaten. These people that watch catch on the strength is limited and they spend time on more stable things. Whatever strength is defined as, all forms have one thing in common, it will not last forever.
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