Cole thinks The power to choose was the real power, not the fake power of makeing others afraid. Explain

Cole spent his life trying to scare and manipulate people for his own advantage. He begins to realize this was only fake power. People did things for him because they were either scared or tricked. Cole realizes that real power comes when people respect you and have an interest in you. They want to be a part of your life because there is inspiration, that is real power. This is perhaps one of the few authentic experiences that Cole has ever had. There were no angles to be played and no head games to be won. Cole's choices to live or die were real and his own. There was nobody to blame but himself. Nature went on around him ambivalent to his survival or his death. Cole was experiencing life in its truest form.