When you've got education, you've got knowledge and power and

Hear, O child of wisdom, the words of Stacey Dash, spoken with clarity and strength: “When you’ve got education, you’ve got knowledge and power and confidence to go out in the world.” Though born of the modern age, these words echo with the timeless truth that education is not merely a tool for survival but a force that transforms the soul. It arms the mind, strengthens the will, and gives the heart courage to step boldly into the vast arena of life.

For what is education, if not the opening of eyes that were once closed? It fills the mind with knowledge, and knowledge is light—light that scatters ignorance, light that reveals hidden paths, light that keeps a traveler from stumbling in the darkness. The uneducated may have strength of body, but without knowledge, they wander. The educated carry within them a lantern that guides their steps and illuminates the world around them.

Yet Harris reminds us—and Dash proclaims—that knowledge is not enough on its own. For when knowledge takes root, it grows into power. This power is not tyranny or dominion over others, but the strength to shape one’s destiny, to rise above circumstance, to resist chains whether forged of poverty or fear. History shows that those who learned—those who took education into their souls—were able to free themselves and others. Frederick Douglass, once a slave, taught himself letters in secret. With them, he gained knowledge. With knowledge, he found power. With power, he broke his chains and became a voice of liberty for countless others.

And with power comes confidence—the boldness to walk into the world unafraid. For the educated man or woman does not shrink from challenge. Their heart is armed with reason, their voice with clarity, their spirit with conviction. Think of Malala Yousafzai, who as a young girl faced violence for daring to seek learning. She endured wounds, yet stood before kings and nations, declaring that education is every child’s right. She was not silenced, for her confidence was born of education, and her education became the weapon that no bullet could destroy.

Dash’s words remind us that to go into the world unprepared is to risk being bent by its storms. But with education, one stands firm. The world is filled with noise, with deception, with trials that test the spirit. Yet the educated can discern truth from falsehood, opportunity from danger, wisdom from folly. They walk not blindly but with open eyes, their minds their shield, their knowledge their sword.

The meaning of this teaching is both practical and spiritual: education gives us the tools to act, but also the courage to believe we can act. Without education, men may live, but they do not truly thrive. With education, they are not merely surviving—they are shaping the very fabric of society. The great leaders, inventors, poets, and liberators all carried with them this triad: knowledge, power, and confidence, born of their dedication to learning.

Therefore, O listener, take this lesson to heart. Do not neglect your own education, whether in schools, in books, or in the classroom of life itself. Seek out knowledge daily, practice it until it becomes power, and let that power give you the confidence to step into the world unafraid. Teach others, especially the young, that education is not a burden but a crown, not a prison but a key that opens the gates of possibility.

For as Stacey Dash declared, when you have education, you have within your hands the means to carry yourself with dignity, to face the world with courage, and to shape your own destiny. And when one life is lifted by education, the world itself is made brighter, richer, and freer.