Objectively, I felt the "power" when I learned macros. You can create any programming construct you like which will be executed at compile time / load time, and

Objectively, I felt the "power" when I learned macros. You can create any programming construct you like which will be executed at compile time / load time, and usable at runtime. You will see the magic when you actually try it. No other language family that I know of (except forth or prolog maybe) can do this. Lisp still has the best macro system of all.