Compare And Contrast Martin Luther King Jr And Socrates

“No needle is sharp at both ends.” This is a famous Chinese proverb meaning that if people decide to do something, it is neither always good for everyone nor the best idea. People usually choose the end where that is beneficial to most people. In addition, if the needle is sharp at both ends, it will hurt either way you go. A leader is like a needle; guiding people towards either one of the sides. Martin Luther King Jr. and Socrates were both great leaders because they fearlessly dedicated their lives to their countrymen each had a unique vision. Though they lived in different time periods, King, a man who fought against segregation, and Socrates, one of the founders of Western philosophy, had many similarities; their power and influence. Martin Luther King Jr. was a great speaker who advocated
non-violence to solve problems. King thought non-violent direct action was reasonable, practical, and moral in regards for people. Because of his leadership style, King emerged as the leader of the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955; he began a long residence as the spokesperson for non-violent protest in the Civil Rights Movement. His most famous speech, “I Have a Dream” led the biggest march of all. In his speech, King says, ”I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” This speech enabled us to see the essence of his leadership. He changed American history, making his voice loud and clear for everyone to hear. Even though African Americans weren’t slaves, they were still treated unfairly and that whites and blacks couldn’t be seen together. He spoke for all people of color and eliminated this misunderstanding. The love and acceptance King received as a child helped shape his open-mindedness and acceptance of others as an adult. Even at an early age, he was aware of the problems of segregation and was determined to improve this system. He started out with just a vision, but along with it was an outgoing personality and outreaching nature that started a community and soon succeeded in reaching his making that vision come to life. King wasn’t the only one with a dream; Socrates expressed his freedom of speech long before.
Like King, he was also very open-minded and practiced non-violence to solve problems. His main focus was breaking up problems into a series of questions, and the answers will gradually distill to the answer a person truly seeks. It’s similar to a hypothesis; if you’re lucky, it’ll only take a few steps, but if not, it might require a little more patience and critical thinking. This is now called the Socratic Method, a reversed process of elimination, in that better hypotheses are found by progressively identifying and eliminating those that lead to contradictions. This makes perfect sense; we can use a modern day example. You’ve probably heard this a lot, “there’s no such thing as a stupid question.” This is true most of the time. We are naturally born with curiosity, especially when we were younger. Remember those good old days when you just kept on asking “why” or “how” and so on? We don’t really notice it but all questions do have an answer, it’s just if you’re willing to look for it. Socrates was wise to know his limitations, and admit to the things he did not know
of.
Both had their own unique way of showing people their beliefs to help people, but they both ended up killed. King was assassinated during his last speech because some people were threatened by his authority. He was American, all he did was expressed his freedom of speech and reminded everyone that there should be equality for all. Socrates wasn’t assassinated but had a similar story where he was charged for three reasons: corrupter of the youth, law breaker, and ignoring the Gods. Clearly, he was able to provide contradictions to their accusations saying that he couldn’t be the corrupter of youth because one man doesn’t have that kind of power to influence that many people. In fact, the judges are the ones giving him this power, fearing him. Second, he respects the law and even turned himself in. Last, how can he be ignoring the Gods when he listened to the Oracle and Delphi? He was given three opportunities to free himself from death, but chose not to because if he did, it would only contradict his own beliefs and he wouldn’t be known as one of the great philosophers today. These ideas are innate to any human, but sometimes we are just too blinded by modern society that we need to be reminded. No needle is sharp at both ends; both great leaders cut short of life, but at least their ideas are well passed on from generation to generation.