Disempowered

[nats]

makes a lot of sense if your dad feels confident and up to things b/c he's never had a bad experience such as being shot or beaten. that could be empowerment or just lack of knowledge about the realities of negative experience. think of self-empowerment as coming from practicing courage - knowing/feeling what could happen and choosing to do something anyway because the outcome is worth the risk. often the outcome may not be worth the risk for you - since you know what the risk actually feels like, while many people wouldn't. thus as you move towards feeling empowered the choices and actions you take have greater value because you know from experience what the alternatives are.

your supervisor doesn't sound very smart.