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| Jasmyne Post Class of 2021 |
-A statement on society’s leadership in the style of freeform poetry-
-Statements in red are products of The Republic of Plato as translated by Allan Bloom-
-Statements in black are additions by myself, Jasmyne Post-
Seeing which of these metals is mixed in their souls,
they know their ultimate place, but they will continue to compete because
they don’t praise justice by itself but the good reputation that comes from it.
Is goodness still good if it brings no glory?
Injustice when it comes into being on a sufficient scale is mightier, freer, and more masterful than justice,
we praise the enemy’s weapon for its glimmer and for this reason
an unjust man with gold dangling above his heart will be lifted above one who harbors it within.
Proof
that it’s possible for evil to be produced by gods.
If each of us knows this is the way of the world, then why does it endure?
I tell you it is because the song of a hungry man may not be the most beautiful, but it is the loudest and
human beings esteem most that song which floats newest from the singer.
When a man gives himself to music and lets the flute play and pour into his soul through his ears
he suddenly becomes deaf.
This is why we must not entertain the sirens that populate the waters of our thoughts because
whether one falls into a little swimming pool or into the middle of the biggest sea, one swims all the same.
We cannot taste injustice and call it sweet because
when we say a man loves something, if it is rightly said of him, he musn’t show a love for one part of it and not for another, but must cherish all of it
so an inkling for the bane of justice erases society’s affinity for justice altogether.
We must find
One who is willing to taste every kind of learning with gusto, and who appreciates learning with delight, and is insatiable,
so that we shall gladly assert them to be a philosopher and call them king.
One whose
father waters the calculating part of his soul and allows it to grow,
but this is a difficult task because bronze, silver and iron beam with pride and gold only promotes humility so
The true pilot will really be called a stargazer.
Jasmyne Post, of Philpot, Ky., is a freshman McConnell Scholar studying English and political science.