Alana defines power as strength, intelligence, and kindness combined. She argues power is good when used to help others, and that gaining skills in drawing and math builds the confidence that makes you more powerful.
Good morning, Alana. How are you?
I'm good. How are you?
I'm well. So you've, I guess you know about daylight savings time?
Yes.
And what happens with daylight savings time?
I think the time jump starts to like, like 1:59 or something to like 3 or 2.
So yeah, they move it forward, um, they move it forward. They say spring forward and fall back, so it goes forward an hour in the spring, which was last night when they did it, and then in the fall it goes back an hour. Anyway, um, are you tired? Are you feeling okay?
I'm feeling okay. Good.
So I was wondering about the word power and what it means to be powerful. So what does it mean to be powerful?
Like maybe if you know something that helps you, maybe you're strong or maybe you're smart, maybe it helps you in something or something like that.
So being smart is a form of being powerful and being strong is a form of being powerful. And then you say if it just helps you with things. Are there things other than being smart and strong that can help you do things?
Like maybe kind or something like that.
So being kind could be a form of being powerful. So how can being kind help you do things?
Well, if you're kind to other people, maybe You'll like, maybe if you're lonely, you'll have something to play with if you're kind. But like, if you were kind to that person, maybe they'll do something back to you.
Very interesting. This is very interesting. So, um, strong helps you do things, intelligent or smart helps you do things, and then being kind can help you do things in the case you gave us where if you're kind to other people, then they're more, more likely to cooperate in lots of different ways. And that, that gives you a form of power. Is that what you're saying?
Yes.
All right. Very interesting. Um, so if we want to be more powerful, well, first, do we want to be more powerful? Is it good to be powerful?
Yeah, it's good to be powerful. Um, And you, you could want to be powerful.
So why is it good to be powerful?
Well, maybe if you're powerful, you could help other people, and you could also, um, maybe if you're powerful, you could do things that maybe some people can't do, and you can experience what it's like.
That's interesting. So can you give me some examples of that, doing things that people can't do and you get to experience what it's like?
Um, maybe when you're, um, surfing and you— and there's this big wave that nobody could catch. Maybe if you have good balance or you've had a lot of time practicing, you could get it.
So like if you're a really great, if you have surfing powers, then you could surf waves that nobody else can surf and have experiences surfing those big waves that nobody else could have. Is that kind of what you mean?
Yeah.
All right. Very cool. And then being, so being powerful can give, lead us to have new experiences other people can't have. And being powerful can help people. Explain more about how being powerful can help people.
Well, just imagine like if you were in a movie or some— someone and you were kind of like a superhero, you could help people.
So like a superhero movie?
Yeah, and you help people with all kinds of different things.
So does that only work in superheroes with superhero powers, or in real life does being more powerful allow us to help other people more.
In real life, people can help people without like any superpowers, like even if it's just one little thing, like if a person is in like a wheelchair or something and they drop something and there's no one to pick it up for them, maybe you could.
Okay, so powerful, being powerful is good. Is, is it ever not a good thing to be powerful, or would you say Given a choice between being more powerful and less powerful, it's pretty much always a good thing to be more powerful.
Yeah, um, it's— I think it's good to be powerful, but sometimes in some cases, sometimes it's not. Like if— like maybe— I don't really know any cases that it would be not helpful to be powerful. But if you're kind, you're smart, you're helpful, you're intelligent, you know a lot of things that maybe you could answer, you could be powerful in like that way.
Got it. What if— do you think there are any people that are mean or do you think all people are nice?
Um, maybe some people in the world are a little bit like mean, maybe at school just a little bit mean, but we could also try to help them out to like be kind to them.
Okay, I guess I was wondering if people are mean, do we want them to be more powerful? Do we want mean people to be powerful?
Um, well, if you're talking like the kind of powerful, like they grow stronger and they can bully people more, um, maybe no, but in certain kinds of way— ways, yes. Like maybe they could grow more kinder or something like that.
Got it. So we definitely want to help them improve their kindness powers for sure. What's the relationship between being powerful and being confident? Do you think being powerful makes you more confident?
Um, yeah, like if you know some type of thing, like maybe it could be in art or maybe it could be math or reading or even sometimes a martial art, it could make your confidence It could, but it could make your confidence bigger and you feel like you know what to do.
Got it. So how are you— are there ways in which you want to become more powerful?
I would become more powerful if I could like learn new strategies in art. And math, um, because sometimes, um, I just don't understand what I'm doing and it ends up being wrong. So that's what I want to get more powerful at.
In both art and in math?
Yeah.
Give me an example in art of how you want to be more powerful.
Like in art, like if I didn't know what to draw and I drew something then it looks bad, maybe I could like figure out some way to make it beautiful again.
Got it. Okay, so that makes sense. You want to improve your drawing abilities specifically. That's one specific kind of superpower in art you want to develop is to be able to draw things better. Are you learning how to draw better?
Um, yeah, I practice a lot at home. And sometimes at school we watch these videos just to calm ourselves down of how to draw certain stuff.
Excellent. And then how about more powerful in math? Give me an example of how you want to be more powerful in math.
Like, like my mom or dad gives me a problem and like I can't figure it out, maybe I could learn How to like figure stuff out with like the number line, HTO, and base 10 blocks and stuff like that.
Does it make sense that if you keep practicing, whether it's art or math, you get better bit by bit by bit?
Yes.
Okay, well, marvelous. So I think I love the fact that you suggested that part of being powerful is being kind. I think that's a really interesting piece because I think a lot of people don't realize that. But it sounds like you thought a lot about how to be, what it means to be powerful and why it's a good thing to be powerful. And I'm glad that you have these goals for more powerful in art and more powerful in math. Now what are you going to do today?
Um, I actually don't know.
Okay, well I hope you have a powerful, powerful day whatever you do. Sound good?
Okay.
Alright. Have a great day, Ilana. Bye-bye.
Bye.
