TRANSCENDING FORM PLATO’S CAVE

BY Samuel Adjei Sarfo

The response I received from Part One of my article sufficiently distinguished those who live in the real world outside of Plato’s cave and those still chained to its floor. The Parable of the Cave is an allegory used by the Greek philosopher Plato in his work The Republic to illustrate our nature in its education and want of education .Socrates describes a group of people who have lived chained to the wall of a cave all of their lives, facing a blank wall. The people watch shadows projected on the wall by things passing in front of a fire behind them, and begin to ascribe forms to these shadows. According to Socrates, the shadows are as close as the prisoners get to viewing reality. He then explains how the philosopher is like a prisoner who is freed from the cave and comes to understand that the shadows on the wall are not constitutive of reality at all, as he can perceive the true form of reality rather than the mere shadows seen by the prisoners. I was very impressed to find that many people see the truth in its purest form, and have broken their chains of ignorance and transcended from gazing the wall of ethocentrism into the real world of knowledge. The words of the following contributors said much about the traditional wisdom of the discerning Ghanaian:
BK WROTE:
Samuel Adjei Sarfo's PURPOSE, INTENTS, SPIRIT is to transform the horrible culture of insult and hate on ghanaweb into something better and brighter. He cites his personal examples. ….
Let's focus on the purpose, spirit and intent of this article: to see and extol the good and great in each other and stop the exchange of insults and tribalistic prejudices. To stay united and at peace with each other. We are already too inter-connected through marriage, schooling and church to allow small-minded tribalists to seek to divide us.

Here in the USA, (and outside of Africa) racists do not even distinguish between a Ghanaian and a Nigerian, let alone look at the differences between a Hausa and a Fulani.When they took our great-great grandparents in chains as slaves to a horrible life of torment and bondage in the New World, it happened partly because they saw us as one group of blacks to be captured into bondage, dehumanised and exploited. We allowed their evil schemes to go ahead by seeing and treating each other in terms of tribes and ALLOWED ourselves to be used to capture and sell our own just because we spoke different languages. The exploiters took the spoils and benefits. There isn't a single Ghanaian tribe that show any lasting and tangible benefits of the slave trade.

Let us resolve in this time: NEVER AGAIN. Please "shine your eyes". Never again should an Ewe be made to lift his or her hand against an Asante. Never again should an Asante consider and treat any others as inferior. NEVER AGAIN in Kwame Nkrumah's Ghana should we be played against each other in the most myopic AND DAMAGING of ways.

As for me, I have resolved: NEVER AGAIN. I will not lift a finger against a fellow Ghanaian, and a fellow African. I will fight racism and prejudice wherever I see them. Let's be wise!!!
WHEREVER OR WHOEVER YOU ARE, BK, YOU TOO HAVE TRANSCENDED.
VODOO XEBIESO WROTE:
My eyes were dropping tears as I read Sammy's piece because during my school days, my best friend was Komla Kyei from Abetifi. Even though we lost contact for quite a long time now, I still cherish his sweet memory.
Just as Sammy is extolling the Ewe heritage, there are also Ewes who are ready to lay down their lives for their Akan friend(s).
- take it or leave it.
MY DEAR BROTHER VODOO XEBIESO HAS NOW TRANSCENDED.

KWASIPONG WROTE:
Sometimes I really wanna cry because of the hurt and animosity we show towards our own brothers and sisters, we are all one people, even from say Nigeria through Cote D'Ivoire to Burkina and back to Benin.

What is so difficult and wrong with loving one another as brethren? Rather welove tearing ourselves apart. Why are we so good at self inflicted wounds which eventually lead to strives and stupid wars which we do not need
I think about these issues and sometimes I get so sad and my heart bleeds. Our fathers fought so hard to create Ghana as an entity for all of us so that we can also have a unified country instead of us living in our little patches of ethnic enclaves, and look at how we are paying them back with ingratitude through division, tribalism, bigotry and hatred for one another.

Please let’s stop this hatred.
I remember I used to have fine and very lovely friends from other tribes of Ghana during my Secondary school days and we loved each other so much Back then, we didn’t even know there were tribal differences between us,; all we knew was that we were Ghanaian kids….. Ghanaians did not use to be this tribalistic. How did it all go wrong ?.

Those friends of mine really enriched my life as a growing up teen which went on to really shape the way I am today and I'm very proud of them all - Agnes Mends, Gladys Agbeke, Samuel Doe, Kate Apiah, Eric Nyaho, Owusu Danquah, Cyril Yeriborah, Abbas Salia, Kofi Agboka, Felicia Lamptey, etc What beautiful people they were!

MY BROTHER KWASI PONG, YOU HAVE TRANSCENDED FROM THE CAVE.

DESIADENYO WROTE:
SAS, we are all actually the same……..For three years in Legon in the 70s, my room-mate was an older teacher from Asante Beposo. We got on very well to have stayed three years. The minor differences we had were personality ones, not tribal. Such things were common those days.

Even the so-called tribalism exhibited on ghanaweb today is not reflective of the true situation in Ghana today even though we must admit that the greed and hubris of our politicians have made the tribal situation somewhat noxious of late.

DESIADENYO, MY GOOD BROTHER, YOU TRANSCENDED ABOVE THE CAVE.
GLO.UK WROTE:
Whether you are Ewe, Ashanti or whatever you are, we are all Ghanaians. It is stupidity to fight among yourselves like that. To an outsider, it is ridiculous, seeing all these comments and slur being thrown. You all have the same colour, you all come from Africa and you are all Ghanaians. What again??!!!

TRANSCENDED!!

NPP THE DOOMED PARTY WROTE:
I am an Ewe but I hate what is going on on Ghanaweb. I know others on Ghanaweb insult other tribes everyday but I don't like the tone of this article. Is the writer implying that only Ewes are intelligent? Our brothers and sisters from other tribes are equally brilliant. Stop the tribal division.
What is this article supposed to achieve? No tribe is more brilliant than the other. What I know is that each tribe to a large extent, tends to have a difference focus. Some prefer to trade, others prefer to farm, and some prefer to hold white collar jobs. May be to you, Ewes are more brilliant but I think it is a matter of focus. Others too excel at what they do, that doesn't mean their brains are dead. No, they just use their brains differently. Say no to tribalism. Let build a united Ghana. Give peace a chance.

NPP THE DOOMED PARTY TRANSCENDED ON SPECIAL GROUNDS. HE SEES ALL GHANAIANS AS EQUAL, AND THAT SHOULD SUFFICE TO PLACE HIM ABOVE THE CAVE.
:
AFRICABI WROTE:
Ewes came from Dahomey
Gas came from Ile Ife,
Akans come from Mali.
If you don’t like the present ghana,
you can go back to your original homeland.

ghana is one country with one common destiny. Ga, Sissala, Ewe,Asante, Fante, we are all the same; a rainbow of beautiful diversity, a garden of many flowers
AFRICABI, FROM WHOM I BORROWED THE OPERATIVE VERB “TRANSCENDED”, YOU TOO LIVE ABOVE PLATO’S CAVE.
ASANTE WROTE:
Sarfo, I have great admiration for the human warmth that you bring to the forum; but this time you’ve set the forum on fire with unnecessary and undue praise for Ewe `brain’. Your personal experience with Ewes on the academic front, as you’ve recounted here in your article, provides no scientific formula for measuring the brain power of Ewes.

I don’t doubt your good intention to promote intertribal harmony; but sometimes good intention carries unpleasant consequences if it is misdirected.

By all means praise the Ewes if your brush with them provides pleasant memories; but avoid controversial issues such as brain power, which cannot easily be proven scientifically.

ALTHOUGH I DISAGREE WITH ASANTE ON HIS INTERPRETATION OF MY ARTICLE, HE TOO TRANSCENDED BY DEFAULT: IF HE SEES ALL TRIBES AS EQUALLY GIFTED, THAT SHOULD BE ENOUGH TO PUT HIM ABOVE THE CAVE.
THANK YOU: WISEMAN WROTE:
You are missing Sarfo's living aphorisms. He is preaching the message of PEACE and LOVE about fellow humans who may be different. He is preaching respect for one another. This is not about Ewe brain; it is about reflection on what we do to others.

FOR STATING EQUALITY, HARMONY AND RESPECT AS THE INGREDIENT FOR COEXISTENCE, WISEMAN TRANSCENDED.
SPECIAL THANKS TO WISEMAN ALSO FOR HOLDING MY BACK; IWAS IMPRESSED.
EFO KWABENA ASENSO WROTE:
I am an Ashanti, but would marry an Ewe because she is the one I love.
Please let us see ourselves as brothers and sisters cos in the image of God (Jehovah) we were all created equal.

FOR DARING TO SATISFY HIS LIBIDO WITH AN EWE BEAUTY WHILE PREACHING NATHONAL UNITY, EFO KILLS TWO BIRDS WITH ONE STONE. HE HAS TRANSCENDED.

BILL WROTE:
Stop this; it doesn't speak well of us as Ghanaians. May God bless the Ashantis and Ewes and all Ghanaians.
BILL TRANSCENDED.
MAWULI GOKAVI WROTE:
As a true Ewe man, what I know is God created us all equal, with equal wisdom, equal opportunities and equal rights. It is never true that some tribes whether white or black are more intelligent than others. The most beautiful thing is,we should learn to respect every tribe, their general culture, food, language and people as our own. That is why we have all blends of colours in Kente that makes it the most beautiful weaven cloth in the world. Ghana one people, one destiny one culture, one nation one goal.

WITH HIS LAST TWO SENTENCES EXPUNGED, MAWULI TRANSCENDED.
THOMAS KEKEY BOSTON USA WROTE:
if all Ghanaians could have the courage to say good things about their fellow Ghanaians when it matters regardless of tribe, colour etc. …. what a prosperous country Ghana will be.
THOMAS TRANSCENDED.
MENSAH ABRAMPA WROTE:
We need more of such positiveness. For years we have been tearing each other down and it has only resulted in more animosity towards each other and more divisiveness. There is beauty all around us and we will see it if only we'd open our eyes wide to see the good instead of constantly looking for the faults in others. Let's never forget that we're one people with a common destiny and what binds us together is more than what divides us. …God created all men in His image and likeness and there is the need for us all to recognize and acknowledge that there are good and bad, the beautiful and ugly, the smart and the dumb, in every tribe. God did not create any tribe inferior. It's time for a ceasefire and have mutual respect for one another, for therein lies our progress. If we stand united, we can overcome. We should be our own judges and acclaim that years of inter tribal acrimony and divisions have only contributed in no small measure to our under-development.
TRANSCENDED!!

EDITOR’S NOTE:

This is not the total number of the people that transcended. However these significantly saw the thematic preoccupation of my article and urged tribal unity and equality. As a caveat, I acknowledge that there are a few others waiting to transcend. They are hanging in soporific levitation in Plato’s cave, and will need some nudging to rise up.

But many commentators have been gazing at the wall forever, and there is no hope for these lost ones. Some of them are chained to the cave floor by their pathological hatred, unfounded accusations, outright lies and baseless assumptions about other tribes. They are the benighted ones whose dumb comments are coextensive with their linguistic halitosis. (There are sufficient reasons to link tribalism with rotten language and rotten teeth!).
Samuel Adjei Sarfo lives in Houston, Texas. You can email him at sarfoadjei@yahoo.com