Socrates

Socrates

In the Greek City of Athens, there once lived a great man called Socrates. He was neither a military hero nor a famous painter. Socrates’ true greatness lay in what he thought and said. Here’s the story…

During that time, students from many countries were keen in the pursuit of knowledge. Socrates taught them about mankind. According to Socrates, the main purpose of living was to learn the ways of goodness. Therefore, he taught his students that one should be fair with one’s fellow men and one should be a loyal citizen. The students also learnt from Socrates that true happiness lay in spreading the knowledge of goodness to the people, especially to bad men who were simply unaware of it. Soon, Socrates became a popular teacher and had a group of followers or disciples. The most famous of his disciples was Plato. Thanks to Plato’s writings, we know today what Socrates thought and said in his day.

Unfortunately, there were some who failed to understand Socrates’ teachings; they accused him of being irreligious and leading the young astray. Socrates was brought to trial and was found guilty. He was condemned to death by drinking a poisonous herb called hemlock. He readily accepted the sentence because he felt that it was the duty of every loyal citizen to obey the laws of the land. In the midst of weeping friends, Socrates died in prison. Thus died one of the world’s greatest men!

From that story, I am really impressed by his principles. When he had been already accused though he was not guilty at all, he still thought that it was a must to obey the laws of the land. It teaches me to be patient and obey the rules in daily life. If we are not guilty, others will know it by themselves later. It does not need any authentication, because nobody can change the true fact. We also do not have to deny it, because we do not have anything to be denied. Must a true fact be denied? No, of course.. So, I am inspired by his thought and now I myself have my own principle; keep going on as you’re in the right way..