The Allegory of The Cave

Thomas Danielle
Professor Hsiao
English 52
17 September 08
I’ll Huff and I’ll Puff and I’ll Blow My Cave Down
“When he approaches the light his eyes will be dazzled, and he will not be able to see anything at all of what are now called realities.” – The Allegory of the Cave
My dad is my cave. My cave is escaping through drugs and alcohol. My dad refuses to own up to any wrong doings that he involves himself in. He was a horrible alcoholic when I was a child. He was diagnosed with Hepatitis C which put a damper on his drinking. He then turned to prescription drugs. He bought a drug dictionary which helped him study which drugs would help him get high. He would approach his doctor with his own self diagnoses. His doctor would prescribe him anything that he wanted. He has over dosed about 5 times now. Sometimes we would call 911 for him. Sometimes the fire department would show up at our door step because someone else would call. My dad would call random people to say his goodbyes and they would freak out and call the paramedics. My family is numb to it now; we aren’t fazed by it anymore. All of these favors that the doctor was doing for my dad was hurting my dad in the long run; since his liver filters anything he puts in his system. And his liver is sick. As I am an adult, a “friend” of his exposed him to cocaine. He sniffles constantly and blows coke boogers out of his nose all of the time. What a waste of money. My dad steals from my mom and I. He scurries through the dark hallways at 3 am like a rat would. He goes through our rooms when my mom and I go out and takes whatever he wants. He picks at his face until tissue is exposed. He is an embarrassment. The part that is the worst is that he is the baby in his family. His family is constantly making excuses for him and rescuing him when he is a damsel in distress. They don’t live with him so they don’t see the truth. And he doesn’t tell them the whole truth. They just go by what he says. I have no respect for my dad or his family. Nor my dad or his family likes me. I know it’s because I am not naïve to his addictions, and that I am strong and opinionated. They constantly talk bad about me. But they don’t matter to me. Since becoming an adult and being able to make my own valuable decisions; I have escaped and freed myself from my cave by striving to be a good person. I have gone back to school. I am sober and have and will always be drug free. I am responsible. I am my terminally ill mother’s caregiver. I have set aside my life to make sure that my mom is always taken care of. I am honest to everyone I come across. More importantly I am honest to myself. I will never allow myself to stoop to my dad’s level. I will never allow myself to be anything like him.