How my grandfather's experience relates to Plato's Allegory of the Cave

Each and every one of us goes through moments of struggle and hardship in order to obtain our desires and goals. Plato’s allegory of the cave tells us how people have to live through darkness in order to find that light of truth. The darkness represents the trials and errors we make as well as the limitations that prevent us from seeing the light. I want to share an experience that my mother told me about regarding her father’s (my maternal grandfather) times in World War II as well as the times after that event.

My maternal grandfather had spent parts of his life fighting in this horrible war. War represents negative feelings, such as anger, hatred and sadness, and my grandfather had carried these feelings during his rough times. This war was between Philippines and Japan and my grandfather expressed great hatred towards Japanese people during and after this war. He had been through death marches where he had to walk with chains around his hands and his legs while having barely any food in his stomach. Although it looked nearly impossible to stay alive, he had managed to survive with his strong will and combating skills. In the end, he was able to make it out of the war and escape from all of the hell that he had to go through.

Even though he was out of the war, he still carried negative feelings within him, especially during the times when he married my grandmother and gave birth to my mother, my two aunts, and my uncle. While my mother and her siblings were growing up, my grandfather would not show signs of love since he would hit them with hard inanimate objects if they did ONE LITTLE THING wrong (such as if they made one drop of mess on the floor, if they came home late or got grades that were less than A’s in school). It was tough for the whole family to live happy lives since my grandfather had been so strict and harsh to them. Although my mother and her siblings had been carried these same negative feelings, my grandmother was able to give them comfort by showing her love to them and telling them to understand the pain that my grandfather had been through.

Somewhere around my grandfather’s fifties, he became seriously ill (I am not sure what illness or disease he had gotten) and was on the verge of dying. During his time of illness my mother and her siblings would come to his deathbed and comfort him. As his last few days of his life had gone by, my grandfather began to feel love within his heart for the first time in his life as he became closer to them. He realized and understood that he had been cruel to his own family and his hatred for the Japanese people and others around him has made him a bitter person. Although he had passed away, he was able to free himself from the shadows and find the light that he had been missing throughout his life. He passed away with feelings of happiness, joy, and enlightenment and was able to bring the entire family closer together.