This was my first time to read Plato's "Allegory of the Cave". I had a hard time understanding it at first, but the more I read it, the better understanding I had of what was being said. I see myself as one of the prisoners in the cave. I think more people live in this so-called cave, than people that don't. We all see things the way we want them to be. We start to believe that the world we live in is all the reality there is. Our lives grow more self-centered; we focus on the needs of our family and people close to us. Our beliefs and the way we see our world are like shadows on the wall. It's the only thing we know - it maybe religion, cultural belief, the environment. We are creatures of habit and we like things to be familiar. To venture outside of our cave would be taking a chance on failure, trying something new, believing in something that we are not accustomed to. We would see through false values, honors, and prestige of our own cave. To live outside of that cave we would rediscover our values, question our actions in our everyday lives and to understand where we come from and where we were going. .
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Martin Luther King, Jr. left his cave to fight for the freedom of slaves, so that every person can have equality. There's no more second rate passengers on a bus. We all drink from the same fountain. We sit elbow to elbow and walk the same streets together. The south may have won the war on freeing the slaves, but the battles are far from over. I think we will always be trying to make up for the injustice of the past. It is time we come out of our cave and move forward. To accept the past is growing in knowledge and moving forward. .
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It was said best by Thomas Jefferson, "We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
