”With great power comes great responsibility.”
We all know and understand this intuitively whether we’ve been following Peter Parker hearing this from Uncle Ben or not. We know it in our hearts. But Uncle Ben kept repeating it, because he knew that we all need this reminder from time to time.
Back in 2008, I started my professional career with a company that was known to pick absolute rookies from the street and turn then into working animators in 6 months. A year in, they handed me a batch of newbies to train in the dark arts of animation: The Illusion of Life, as the Disney Old Men used to call it.
The first thing I did was to warn those younglings. They were about to acquire a very powerful set of skills that can influence people at very deep levels. So they had to be very careful about how they used this power. They had to swear that they would use it responsibly.
Turns out, I was on to something with that realization. Because ten years later, when I decided to re-educate myself in the dark arts of marketing, I got lucky and stumbled upon a reclusive genius named John Carlton. I bought everything I could by him, including his infamous “Kick-Ass Copywriting Secrets of a Marketing Rebel”.
And lo and behold! On the third page of the Introduction, John Carlton says:
“I’m about to reveal to you the Keys To Unlimited Wealth. These secrets will rapidly change your life in ways you can only dream about today. And I am asking you, right now, to promise me with every sincere fiber in your heart… that you will only use these new powers in fair, legal and morally ethical ways.”
This is the power of storytelling, my friend. Doesn’t matter you’re telling the stories in moving pictures, written word, or a twitch of your eyebrow.
You have the power. So you’ve gotta be responsible about it.
That’s it for today. Go here for some incredible stories and pieces by some incredible creators in the first 15 issues of Dastaan World Magazine: https://dastaanworld.gumroad.com/l/ErywZ?wanted=true
It will bring you up to speed for the upcoming relaunch.
Your pal,
Shakaib Feroz