picture narrative

I am standing uder some trees by a lake. The people I am standing with are under the trees too gazing at the lake. Our town is on the east side of the lake. It is a quiet town during the day, since we only have about 30 citizens. Across the lake is another town. I have never been over there to meet those people. I wonder what kinds of people live over there. What do they do? Do they also have trees to lay under like our town? I can’t help but wonder if they are thinking the same things. Why is the woman in front of me alone? The other two women under the trees are standing next to someone, but she is alone.

The Allegory of the Cave

In Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, Plato discusses the idea that what we see in our surroundings is not necessarily reality. Plato proves this point through several references of someone living in a cave their whole life. In his writing, Plato emphasizes that if someone were to leave a dark cave after living there his/her entire life, the light of the outside world would be blinding. Further explaining the harsh change from one reality to another.

In my life I experienced a similar situation to Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. Where I grew up, the township of Upper St. Clair just outside of Pittsburgh, it was pretty much a gated community without the gate. The township offered a community known for its great school system to those who were willing to pay for it. Thus, appealing to a number of residents over several years that were very wealthy. These residents could pay for the finest schools, hospitals, and police departments. The combination of wealthy upper-middle class residents and an environment mainly inhabited by young families raising their children created a very fake reality. There was little crime or things for teenagers to do since Upper St. Clair was made up of only residential housing. My whole life I was shielded from any crime or violence that was a regular part of the real world.

It was not until I got my driver’s license that I began to explore a new reality. Being able to drive anywhere gave me a new freedom. I did things in downtown Pittsburgh on my own like go to baseball games and restaurants. I walked the streets of downtown Pittsburgh just like any normal citizen as opposed to walking the empty sidewalk-less streets of Upper St. Clair. In addition, when I turned sixteen I got a job outside of Upper St. Clair I worked with people and saw customers that had real life problems. Such things as financial worries, car problems, and health insurance issues. In this reality I began to appreciate that everything isn’t perfect and where I grew up was not anything like what the rest of the world is like.