Light

Today, I listened to music, watched TV, and used the computer. I blinked at the brightness of my cell phone screen before I drifted off to sleep for a nap.

But all these things are just in a cave, as I learned today. The real stuff -- the light -- is outside, out in the real world. Most of us, especially in this day and age, are stuck in a cave. We live here and can't survive without it.

Caves are usually kind of scary anyways, right? They're dark and cold. Who'd want to stay in one?

Yet, most of us still want to stay.

The Song

I'm so mortified about my song.

I must admit, though: writing my song wasn't hard for me at all. However, singing it in front of the class is what I dreaded. I'm sure it was like that for a lot of other people. I felt pretty confident before going up to perform, but once I was actually up there, it's a whole different story. My voice cracked what seemed like a million times and I couldn't control it because I was so nervous. It was my first time singing in front of anyone other than my mom and sister: it's definitely a different feeling. But once I was done, I still felt nervous! I guess it's because it's all the adrenaline left over...I felt like I was shaking or something. A part of me wishes that I could do it over again, because I feel like I did a pretty terrible job and that it was possible for me to improve. But another part of me doesn't, obviously, because I don't want to go through that embarrassment again...

I don't know, performing is just not my thing.

Brainwashing

This post actually relates to my last post, because I'm actually still talking about indoctrination. In the the book, The Republic, it was mentioned that people should be "dyed", or brainwashed so that they would forget about dangers like pleasure, pain, fear, and desire. But why are these things dangerous? It's because they're dangers to creating a just society, as Socrates mentioned. That's why, he thought, that people must be brainwashed so that they would leave these things behind.

You could say that this "brainwashing" would be a good thing!

These dangers tempt people, and therefore, they lose focus on the main goal: justice. Isn't that what Socrates is really looking for? He's looking to create a just society. But really, his ideal world is so out-there and far-fetched that it's pretty unrealistic, if you ask me.

Education

You could say that education is choosing to learn. But really, you can go through school without learning a thing.

Indoctrination

In The Republic, the idea of indoctrination is mentioned, as Socrates wanted all people to have the same education. This would have to start at the age of a child. That's where the Pledge of Allegiance comes in: we all learn the pledge when we're in preschool, right? And we learn it, usually without knowing what we're even saying. But that's indoctrination -- it's just kind of...set into our minds at a young age, and it becomes natural and automatic. We're building allegiance to the country, and when we're young, we're pretty much unaware of it. We remember it by heart, and then recite it almost everyday of the school year. The pledge is important, however. Without it, we'd be missing one thing: unity.