Mlk, Plato And Galbraith
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In the road through life you will be learning many lessons and taking advice from many different people. This is one of those lessons that you will want to take with you through life. In this crazy journey through life if you realize that someone is being wronged you need to know that it is your moral duty to do something about it, even if it means that your going to have to break some rules to do so. And once you realize this you must not wait around for the right time or you might lose your chance to do something about it. Things that are urgent enough cant just be put on a shelf to collect dust. And if you dont want to take my word for it many brilliant writers have said the same things, like Martin Luther King Jr., Plato and Galbraith. I hope that after having read this you will do something about all the problems in the world that need people that are willing to question things.
In a famous work called “Letter from Birmingham Jail” by an aw inspiring writer named Martin Luther King Jr. gives the same advice. He first talks about how sitting around and watching the problem is just as bad as not doing anything about it. In his letter he gives the example about white moderates. He says “I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negros great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizens Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to “order” then to justice.” (Jacobus, 181) Knowing that something is wrong and not doing anything about it is just as but if not worse then if you were oblivious or against it. Knowledge of the problem is the first step to solving it. Then he tells us about just and unjust laws. His advice to this is to doubt authority always question dont just follow the crowd. Do something about things that go against what you believe in. Just because its been given the title law does not always make it right to follow. In his letter he writes “The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One not only has a legal but moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.”(Jacobus, 178) And after all this you cant just wait around for the perfect time because if you do you might lose your chance. If Martin Luther King waited for when he felt like dealing with segregation then who knows, we could still be having to deal with segregation today. He gives examples in his letter how if something is so wrong then how could you wait to do something about it.
Another breath taking writer was Plato. One of his more famous works is the “The Allegory of the Cave.” In this story he discuss the same ideas and thoughts that Martin Luther King discussed. With the people in the cave in his story did not want to leave the cave. The fear of change kept them from experiencing freedom. They were afraid to leave there comfort zone and go somewhere so unfamiliar to them. Just like the white moderates the people in the cave did not want to take the chance in causing a commotion. Even though they knew that there was freedom on the other side of the thick walls of the dark cave they decided to act ignorant to the facts. So they sit back and act like nothing has happened. Then he explains how you should not follow authority mindlessly but with questioning. Because the people in the cave decided to follow there rules of staying in the cave they will never be able to experience anything better then being tied up to a wall. If segregation stuck around and African Americans thought that