Plato’s “The Allegory of the Cave”

In “The Allegory of the Cave,” Plato relates a conversation between Socrates and Glaucon, where Socrates puts forth his beliefs on the nature of enlightenment, education, and what makes a good leader. To achieve this purpose, Plato, through the voice of Socrates, describes a cave where people live their entire lives chained up, only able to view a wall upon which shadows created by the movement of people and objects outside the cave are shown. This limited view, according to Socrates, is their reality and truth: they have no awareness of any other way of life much less the nature of the world itself. These prisoners represent the unenlightened and uneducated – the majority of the people.

After a time, one of the prisoners is released and exposed to the outer world, resulting at first in great confusion and physical pain. At first, Socrates states, the released prisoner (the newly educated man) will view the new world through the lens of the old: only able to understand the new in how it relates to the old. Over time, the new reality will become the truth to the released prisoner and the old reality (the cave) becomes small, limited, and false. Once exposed to the larger world and greater understanding of the reality of the world at large, they would pity those left behind and desire to return to their former world and educate the prisoners they left behind. Upon returning to the old world, however, the former prisoner, having lost the skills previously needed in the cave, would not be able to compete with his old comrades as he did before. The imprisoned would view his new knowledge and ideas with ridicule and pity. The imprisoned would believe that the returned prisoner is “proof” that one should not leave, much less even think of leaving the cave.

This represents Socrates’ belief that it is the responsibility of the enlightened man to educate as many others as possible – to pull as many out of the cave as he can. The only way to do this, however, is to retain the skills necessary to live in the cave and return there occasionally. By returning to the old cave occasionally, it also serves the purpose of preventing the enlightened world from becoming a cave, albeit a larger, brighter one. Through this metaphor, Socrates represents his view of the lives and beliefs of the majority of people and uses it to put forth his idea that the best leaders should be able to live in both worlds: that of the educated and that of the uneducated.

Written for Professor Stephenson's English Composition II class at Pikes Peak Community College, 15th June 2004

Research Proposal: Our Backwards Approach to Marriage and Divorce

In several of Robert Heinlein’s future-fiction books, the author puts forth the concept of “Contract Marriage” – where people marry for a set period of time (i.e., 5 years, 20 years, etc.).  While the idea of predetermining the length of a marriage may be unrealistic in our society, the idea of requiring a marriage contract that covers issues such as assets, children, support, the termination of marriage, and premarital counseling is one that should be considered seriously today.

The Guest

In Albert Camus’ “The Guest,” a mild-mannered schoolteacher finds himself stuck with an unwanted guest and obligation: taking his guest, an Arab accused of murdering his own cousin, to prison. Through this obligation, the schoolteacher, Daru, must deal with concepts of honor, choices, and individual responsibility. Ultimately, Daru decides the choice of whether or not to deliver the man to prison is a decision best made by the prisoner and not himself. The Arab decides to turn himself in to the prison, leaving the reader with the question of why. Although Camus does not give the reader easy answers to the question of why, there are several reasons the Arab chooses the path to prison.

Beauty is in the Eye

In “Beauty: When the Other Dancer is the Self,” Alice Walker relates a childhood accident that altered her perception of her beauty and herself. When Walker was eight, her right eye was damaged by an errant shot from a b.b. gun by her brother, resulting in a large, white cataract on her right eye. From this experience, Walker not only loses her vision in her right eye, her entire perception of herself changes from one of a cute, pretty little girl to one who is ugly and damaged. Through several episodes covering nearly thirty years, Walker explores the changes in her perception of her beauty and what beauty is.

Bowling League Awards

For several years while I lived in Calhan, Colorado, I was a member of the White Trash Wednesday Bowling League at the Calhan Bowling Center (now closed thanks to the economy). At the end of the season, we had a pot-luck awards banquet where everyone drank way too much, prizes for bowling accomplishments were awarded, and everyone who deserved one received a Very Special Certificate. This is the one I received! With the Certificate came a very special Ribbon:

On a more serious note, I did achieve several legitimate bowling accomplishments, and received the badges and pins pictured below.

Here's the funny thing about these achievements: My average was 103. I hit 75 pins over average AND my first 400 on the same night - a night I was notoriously and most uncharacteristically drunk. I mean falling-down, pass-out drunk. I had a bad day, was pissed at the world, and although I rarely drank, decided to have "just one" Long Island Ice Tea. Which became two. Then three... still not entirely sure if I had a fourth or fifth... but I do know I was completely incapable of walking the three blocks back home. Thankfully my friends got me home safely!

The post date of 5/1/2004 for this is an estimate - this definitely occurred in the late Spring of 2004, but I don't remember the exact date.  The above was written 26th December, 2011.

Flat-Rate Tax Flies

There are various different flat-rate income tax plans floating around, in the form of bills, candidate platforms, and public interest group stances, amongst others. The plans vary from a “strict” flat-rate income tax on all earned income - both personal and business - to plans that have flat rates for businesses but varying rates on earned income. There are also proposals for replacing all income tax with a consumption tax (also known as a national sales tax). The most common and feasible proposal is changing the current multi-tiered income tax system of increasing tax rates tied to increasing income (known as a progressive tax rate system) to one tax rate for all individuals, regardless of income.

Questions

"What happened?"

"Kashley, don't be rude!" her father says, scolding.

"It's OK, Trey." I look into her six-year-old eyes, this little blond beauty I have loved for four incredible years. She is not my daughter, but, like her father, she is my closest friend. The friendship between us confuses outsiders, but has a closer-than-family feeling to us.

I realize with surprise that neither she, nor her father, ever asked me about the scars on my face before. But Kashley is six now, with more than the usual amount of curiosity that comes with this age. I should have known that she, like many before her, would eventually ask.

"When I was four years old, I did something very stupid and hurt myself."