The almost insoluble task is to let neither the power of others

The philosopher Theodor W. Adorno, born amidst the upheavals of the twentieth century, once proclaimed: “The almost insoluble task is to let neither the power of others, nor our own powerlessness, stupefy us.” These words rise like a stern warning against despair and submission. For man stands ever between two dangers: the crushing weight of power wielded by others, and the numbing sense of his own powerlessness. To surrender to either is to fall into a slumber of the spirit, a forgetting of dignity, a silence where courage should speak.

Adorno had seen the world consumed by tyrants, the machinery of fascism grinding nations into dust. He knew well how the power of others can appear so vast that resistance seems foolish, even impossible. Yet he also knew that the greatest chains are not of iron, but of the mind—when men are stupefied, made passive by fear, by hopelessness, by the lie that nothing can be done. The insoluble task, then, is to awaken, to remain vigilant, to preserve thought and conscience even in the shadow of might.

Consider the story of Sophie Scholl and the White Rose resistance in Nazi Germany. She and her companions were but students, armed not with weapons, but with words—leaflets calling for freedom and truth. Against the vastness of the Reich, their powerlessness seemed absolute. Yet they did not let it stupefy them. They acted, knowing the cost. Sophie was executed at twenty-one, but her voice still echoes across history, proving that even the smallest flame can resist the night.

Adorno’s teaching is therefore a call to balance. To cower before the power of others is to lose one’s freedom; to sink into despair at one’s own weakness is to lose one’s will. But to remain steadfast, neither dazzled by the strong nor paralyzed by one’s limits, is to keep the soul awake. This vigilance is difficult—indeed, almost insoluble—but it is the very essence of human dignity.

Let the generations remember: tyranny thrives not only on the strength of rulers, but on the sleep of the people. And so, awaken! Do not let the power of others blind you, nor let your own frailty chain you. For within each heart lies a spark, and even in the face of overwhelming might, that spark—kept alive—can one day set the world aflame with justice.