A matter of time – Dr. Anoop Radhakrishnan

A Matter of Time

Socrates looked at Plato and Plato knew it was one of those days!!

“Have you ever won any argument with me Plato?”
Plato looked hard at Socrates, looked skywards, jogged his memory and came up with a weak “No.”

Socrates pulled up the flowing broom of his robe from the drain, followed Plato’s line of vision and said “Do you know why?”

Here were two great men of equal intellect, walking along on the paved streets of Athens. Staring at the stars. Rushing into the edges of the gutters at times. At times standing still in the path of an oncoming chariot. Staggering along with the weight of their wisdom. Or were they just two drunken or drugged young men, talking nonsense?

Plato said “Why?” Because I am older than you”, said Socrates. “Maybe by a very small unit of time, but still…older than you.”

Socrates went on “You know, we older guys have an infallible argument against you. We can never lose. Even if the argument is wrong, we will never accept defeat. In fact, there is no way that an older man will ever feel that he has lost an argument with a younger one.”

Plato looked keenly at Socrates, he was thoroughly interested by now. He asked “What is this infallible argument?”

“I have always proved my point through dialogue. But this time I shall make you ask the questions and not answer them. Now let us have an unsophisticated argument” said Socrates, looking down from the stars, onto the eager face of the young man. “Let me make a controversial statement — Only young men are naïve enough to believe in love!!”

“What nonsense!” Plato purged. “I expected a half decent statement from you!”

Socrates smiled at the young man and said “Look, forget that this is a very intelligent conversation, just participate. It is just to illustrate my point. So I said that- Only young men are naïve enough to believe in love.”

Plato played the game “What if they are not actually naïve and really know that love exists”

Socrates was ready-“Love exists, just like ghosts and gods do. They are there because people believe in them. All these people are naïve, they do not know better. There are many more things that exist, some in realty and some a creation of belief. However for a young man nothing else is as important as to believe in the fallacy of love. It could be a procreational urge that has been adapted into something partially unidentifiable from procreation itself”

Plato was now agitated. He was not the youngest person in Athens, but he took up cudgels for the youth “I think you are wrong in thinking that all young men are fools. And moreover, how do you know that love is not all that exists? What if love is all that exists and you can’t see it?”

Socrates looked at Plato with a smile of a storekeeper who had just heard his mousetrap snap shut with a thwack. “If you believe that love is all that exists, then it proves that you are young and naïve.”

Plato stopped in the track and exclaimed “What nons…”. He had just realized what the argument was all about. He whistled a basso in awe of the argument. Then he thought about it and asked “What if I had said that I don’t believe in —-oh OK OK, you would have said that I am not young. But what if I had said that I don’t believe in love and I was actually young?”.

Socrates waited thoughtfully for Plato. He had not seen that one coming, but he was up to it “Then I would say that you are too old to fall in love. If you were lying, then you would know that I was right. If you were saying the truth, then I am right anyway. Any which ways, I won’t feel defeated.”

Plato said “And it really doesn’t matter what statement you make, you can just bring in the infallible argument at any point of time and end the discussion. You may as well have said the very converse statement from the one you actually made, and still have brought in the infallible argument. And it doesn’t matter if you are wrong, you still haven’t been defeated.”

Plato gazed up at the stars again. He looked down at the paved road. Their canvas slippers flip flopped on the road. Plato and Socrates walked on for a long distance, silent. Suddenly Plato said with resignation “Why should you old guys have this infallible argument. Why this unfair advantage should you get? What makes you superior to us, just age?

Socrates was still looking at the young man’s thoughtful street gaze. He again followed Plato’s line of vision and said “It is not a case of age. It is just a matter of time young man, just a matter of time.”