Respect strength, not power
Power is owned, strength is used. Power can be inherited, but strength cannot. Strength is something you have to show and display repeatedly when the situation demands it. To see the use of strength is evidence enough that a person deserves our respect. To see power is evidence of nothing, because we don't know what the person had to do to get hold of it.
Power reveals something about the past. We don't know how it was given, whether it was given unjustly or rightfully. Power has no effect without subjects you can use it on. It is a control mechanism. To judge power, we have to know the context in which it emerged. Did other people give you power because they trust you, or do you hold authority over them because not bending to your will has consequences? So power can be given willingly or you can attain it through force or violence.
Strength requires no other people. It resides within yourself and has to be summoned through your will, while power needs something outside of yourself to have an effect. Strength can be used to obtain power, but power cannot be used to obtain strength. This is why we should respect strength when it is shown, because we know that it was earned.
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