Going back to when I was adolescent, I was always living indoors. I never knew what the outside world had stored for me. I always thought that I was going to stay close home like I had always been. I went to school near my house, for example my elementary school was 4 blocks away. My middle school was right in front of my house. At first I didn’t mind this because I was young and couldn’t travel outside my boundaries. I felt like I was like the prisoners in The Allegory of the Cave. In the book The Republic by Plato, Socrates is talking to Glaucon about enlightenment and prisoners and says “Here they have been from their childhood, and have their legs and necks chained so that they cannot move, and can only see before them, being prevented by the chains from turning around their heads” ,That’s exactly the way I felt. But as the years went by I knew something had to change. Always coming home to my daily routine was getting tiring and I was in my last year of junior high school. Now I would have to apply to the high school of my choice and with 13 years of age I knew that the only way out of the four plain walls was to apply to a high school that was not in the same borough, Brooklyn.
I was so excited when I got the news that I been accepted to a high school of my choice, in the lower east side. It was my escape from the ordinary, yes I was nervous but it was all I wanted. I finally had the chance to travel and meet new places and especially new people. It was mid September and my focus was on traveling to school. With a destination in mind and everything ready for a new adventure, there was nothing that could stop me.
Walking to the train station, I felt more mature and anxious because I had the responsibility to get to school safe and sound on my own. I didn’t have Mami or Papi along me to take me to school, I was on my own and on my way to a place I have never been, the train. As soon as I got the J train near my house I was timid that something would go wrong. I felt awkward and estranged when I got to the train, I was so small, compared to the people that I saw in the train. I was the youngest and I felt intimidated because I felt everyone looked at me because of my height and my innocence.
When the train started moving I was amazed of the train movements and how many people kept getting in and out. The part that amazed me was the bridge, crossing the bridge made me feel so scared because I thought that something bad was going to happen. As I got up and I saw my stop in front of me I knew this was it. I was finally on my own and going to school.
Outside was beautiful my experience there was unbelievable, new environment and new surroundings. Everything was different it wasn’t my comfort zone anymore and no matter what there was no turning back, I would be traveling here for four years.
According to Socrates when he was explaining to Glaucon, “Whether true or false my opinion is that the world of knowledge the idea of good appears last of all, and is seen, is also inferred to be the universal author of all things beautiful and right, parent light and of the lord of light in this visible world” (The Republic, Plato).according to him the journey that the prisoner took, was rewarding because he got to see all the beautiful things that the outside world had for him. I can relate to this because I felt like I was the prisoner who went outside the cave and discovered that there were many things outside and he couldn’t wait to tell his friends. I had no regrets and it was the best feeling.
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