Perhaps Socrates most important gift was the ability to stay timeless. However,
his teachings were cut short when he was sentenced to death. In his speech
"The Apology", he claimed that a "good man cannot be harmed
either in life or death". If Socrates was right in this statement, then
those righteous people on earth have nothing to fear, not even death. Before the
righteous run into traffic to see if this is true, we must dissect the statement
for validity. First we have to look at what the definition of "good"
is, and since this paper is to be my thoughts and ideas, I shall define it
myself. A good person is kind, generous, and knows what they believe in. A good
person cannot be harmed in life; if they are truly a good person they will never
do anything to harm anyone else, therefore evading a good deal of backlash from
enemies. However, this is assuming that all people are reasonable and rationale.
They are not, this judgment being made quickly from examples in history. People
are able to hate with little or no reason, causing even the best person harm.
For example, a Hispanic person may be a "good" person, but still be
harmed by the prejudice against him for being Hispanic. Yet, should he be a good
person, he will be able to withstand any prejudice, because he is
"good" and strong in his beliefs. These beliefs should be able to help
him stand up to any hurtful enemies, because his "goodness" gives him
inner strength. Should this person truly be good, he should have no fear of
death, either. Citing my own religion, Christianity, shows that a
"righteous person shall enjoy everlasting life" in the kingdom of
Heaven by the hand of God. Most other religions in the world, even, believe that
those good people shall move on to other realm or life where they will be
rewarded for their goodness. Socrates believed himself to be a good person. The
oracle at Delphi told him he was the wisest among men; in Socrates' mind, wise
was a kin to good. Socrates had rationalize in his mind that death would never
hurt him, because any theories he could come up with about death were only
peaceful ones. For Socrates, the jury had little or no effect on him, for he was
a good man. The gods would shine on him despite man's attempt to ruin. He could
only conclude that a "good man could be hurt neither in life or
death". Socrates also tells the jury that by killing him, they will be
harming themselves more then they will be harming him. Karma could be a possible
conclusion to this statement: should they kill him, they will be punished for
killing an innocent man by a higher being. However, karma is a false doctrine
and cannot be properly used to understand these claims. So we must look
elsewhere for the truth behind this utterance. By killing this man, they will
loose one of their truest sources for wisdom. By killing him and taking that
source away, they will suffer in their lives because they will never gain
knowledge and truth. Perhaps this is true, but they should have been able to
look within themselves to find the truth, not just to Socrates. It seems that
Socrates was too busy proclaiming himself to be deity like to realize that he
too had to look within to find this wisdom. Socrates was in his seventies by the
time he faced trial and eventually death. This may have been a driving factor in
his acceptance of his impending death, or perhaps the demon senility had begun
to creep in. Either way, his final speech was affecting in its power and drive
of heart, and should be considered a well worded final speech bordering on art,
rather then a doctrine on the way to live a life.