January 8th will be the birthday of Elvis Presley.

Plato was no fan of poetry.  Plato, a professor of philosophy, Athenian who lived 4th Century BCE, expressed aversion to the arts.  Plato was pointed in his criticism of poetry.  He believed that poetry especially when combined with the emotional stimulus of music was dangerous.  Poets assert knowledge of matters which they know little about, are persuasive on account of their “rhythm, rhyme and harmony,” according to Plato.  I paraphrase Plato’s words as I wish to offer an opposing point of view.

Plato, the pupil of Socrates, the teacher of Aristotle can be regarded as the founder of the outlook of those of us who inherit the Enlightenment tradition of the West.  Plato thought that the cornerstone of Reality was the transcendent, uncontaminated idea of… a horse, a man, a woman, or a Starbucks cup.  This is Idealism, the assertion that ideals are ultimately real.  Ideals considered by reason ought to guide us in our consultations, our work to build a just society, to live a good life.

My response: as fine as that sounds, does this not leave us with a brittle, hard-edged social arrangement, absent the flexibility needed due to the differences which are empirically real, unavoidable, inevitable?  A magnificent edifice, erected upon a foundation of ideals will be ripe for abandonment when ideology cloaked in a gossamer wrapper of ideals is weaponized to injure a majority of our citizens.  I refer to the Supreme Court that seems to be on the cusp of overturning Roe V. Wade, the law which guarantees females autonomy over their own bodies.

I offer in response to Plato this magnificent song by Elvis Presley.  And yes, if I should have opportunity in the future, I will visit Graceland.

I was born too late.  A few years older, I’d like to think that I would have been present at a concert to experience Elvis perform this song.

My rejoinder to Plato:  Is it not crucial that we do not lose sight of, touch with, what we do not and cannot know?

Kentucky Rain

By Elvis Presley

Seven lonely days
And a dozen towns ago
I reached out one night
And you were gone
Don’t know why you’d run,
What you’re running to or from
All I know is I want to bring you home

So I’m walking in the rain,
Thumbing for a ride
On this lonely Kentucky backroad
I’ve loved you much too long
And my love’s too strong
To let you go, never knowing
What went wrong

Kentucky rain keeps pouring down
And up ahead’s another town
That I’ll go walking thru
With the rain in my shoes,
Searchin for you
In the cold Kentucky rain,
In the cold Kentucky rain

Showed your photograph
To some old gray bearded man
Sitting on a bench
Outside a gen’ral store
They said “Yes, she’s been here”
But their memory wasn’t clear
Was it yesterday,
No, wait the day before

So I fin’ly got a ride
With a preacher man who asked
“Where you bound on such a cold dark afternoon?”
As we drove on thru the rain
As he listened I explained
And he left me with a prayer
That I’d find you

Lyrics by E. Rabbitt, D. Heard