Blog 1: The Cave and I revise

Brandon Miller
09/27/10





The cave and I
                In the story of the cave, Socrates brings up a very important fact of life and asks the question, Is it better to live in the cave and be sheltered from the lies or do you leave the cave, learn the truth and risk being shunned by it? To feel safe in your comfort zone and never to question it and be at peace, or to go out and find that there is more to life and deeper meanings in what you see? I believe there is no correct answer but in my opinion, I believe it is better to learn the truth about the situation whenever possible.
                It is in human nature to lie to one another. Someone lies about something at least once a day. The government lies to us constantly about everything, in order to “keep us safe”. Our family , friends and neighbors lie to us for many different reasons. We even lie to ourselves. We do this in order   to keep ourselves, safe, happy, and sheltered from pain. But in doing so we are actually doing the opposite.
                 Let’s take banks for example. Almost everyone knows that banks nickel and dime us at every opportunity they get. And yet the average American does nothing but except it, or worse they do not care. And I can prove it to, go up to anyone. Anyone you may, or may not know, and ask them if they know what the rule of 72 is. 99 times out of 100 they will not know what it is or what it does for banks.

The rule of 72 is a math problem used to determine how soon your money will double with interest. Lets say you have about $10,000 in a bank where you receive about 8% interest. What you do is take the the number 72 and divide it by your current interest which is 8. It would take 9 years for your $10,000 to become $20,000 if you don't add any additional money to the account. Now lets go to reality. There is no bank that gives out 8% interest most likely they give you, is less than 1% but let us say for now it is 1.0%. Now lets do it again. 72 divided by 1 is 72. With out adding any money it will take you 72 years to make that $10,000 into $20,000, 72 years!

Now here comes the real kicker, lets say you DO NOT invest your money in anything you just let it sit there in the bank. The bank is needs money for something or they need to give someone a loan. Guess where the bank goes for the money to give to others. YOUR BANK ACCOUNT. Thats right the bank will take your money and give it to someone else to use. And the worst part, is that this is all completely legal. Now knowing this would you rather put your money in a bank where you will barely see any increase in money and have them take your money? Or would your rather invest your and control your money.

But by knowing what it is and understanding how banks work and how they are able to make money off of your money, you are able to plan ahead and make changes to your life and use your money better.

But as Plato said, there will be objectors. No-believers to your story. People who have gotten so used to the lie, they become comfortable with it, and that anything else is wrong. They believe their way is the right way simply because it is the only way they know.  They can’t believe that a bank would take their money and use it for themselves and have that be legal. They will challenge them and the best way to prove it is to show them. Believe half of what you see and none of what you hear, as the saying goes.
                But I believe that by Knowing the truth betters your live because you will be able to see and understand your life better and the way the world around you works. You can father improve you live and others. Think of it this way, Imagine there was a meteor coming to impact the Earth. The government says that the meteor will simply pass over the plant harmlessly, and they say that because they have no way of stopping the meteor themselves and that in pact with New York is definite.

                Would you rather
                A:) Stay with the lie the government   gave you and stay in New York and believe nothing is wrong.
                                                                                                    Or
B:) Find the truth that the meteor is going to hit, Take your family and leave on the first thing smoking.


If you said B You understand the power of truth. If you said A…well you are going to die.


One example of myself was when I was in M.S.181, the worst middle school ever. I was told so many times that I was on track in terms of reading and writing, which I believed because my parents made me read a lot. They told me I was doing good in class, but I found out from one of my teachers that all of the classes where watered down and that teachers where told to pass students because the school was so poor they had to force kids though. And the no child left behind helped back them . If it where not for my parents helping me I would not have got out of that school and then high school.


We need to be well informed of everything. With out the truth we miss out on an opportunity, get cheated out of life and are constantly held back form important things in life.