Between Friends
It’s early morning, and my friend Michael and I sit at a corner table inside Jo’s Coffee, where we meet weekly. Our respective journeys with Parkinson’s disease intersected a couple of years ago. A mutual love of books, writing, teaching, and paradox has kept us on an already well-worn path of friendship that may best be characterized by a line in a Steinbeck novel, “I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that’s why.”*
After nearly an hour of conversation, including our challenges, frustrations, celebrations, and joys, I tell Michael about a song my daughter Meredith wrote a couple of weeks earlier. A lover of music and singing, Meredith and four friends who met in a summer music program formed a band—Sigmund Floyd. The band’s first song is titled “Plato’s Cave,” and Meredith penned the song’s lyrics.
I play it for Michael.
Plato’s Cave**
(**You may listen to Plato’s Cave here.)
How can you describe the sun
If you’ve only seen the cave
Shadows bouncing on the walls
Never seen the light of day
Break your chains and step outside
See the world with your own eyes
They won’t believe the things you say
If they only know the cave
Color means nothing if you’ve never seen
Pain means nothing if you never bleed
What you do and where you go
Dictates everything you know
Sound means nothing if you’ve never heard
Language means nothing if you can’t read words
To see the world you need to be brave
Maybe we’re all prisoners in Plato’s cave
If you’ve only seen the darkness
How do you know that you aren’t blind
Living life with your back to the fire
What’s there to lose when it’s time to die
I have loved and I have lost
I’ve had to learn and I’ve had to grow
There’s so little that I’ve seen
There’s so little that I know
Color means nothing if you’ve never seen
Pain means nothing if you never bleed
What you do and where you go
Dictates everything you know
Sound means nothing if you’ve never heard
Language means nothing if you can’t read words
To see the world you need to be brave
Maybe we’re all prisoners in Plato’s cave
What is the meaning of life?
Why are we here?
Where do we go after we die?
Am I in Plato’s cave?
So, if you think you know the world
Is that true or are you blind?
Do you know the games life plays
Or are you also in the cave?
Listening to Meredith sing, thinking about the cave that Parkinson’s pulled me out of, I look over at Michael, who wipes a tear from his cheek, and then, with him, I look into the morning light.
__________
*John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men
Allan Cole was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2016, at the age of 48. He created PD Wise and is the author or editor of many books on a range of topics related to chronic illness, bereavement, anxiety, and spirituality. His latest books are Discerning the Way: Lessons from Parkinson’s Disease (Cascade), In the Care of Plenty: Poems (Resource Publications), and Counseling Persons with Parkinson’s Disease (Oxford University Press). Follow him on Twitter @PDWise.
Meredith Cole is 16 years old. She likes philosophy, writing, and math. She plays piano, sings, and is learning to play bass guitar. Meredith recently formed a band with four friends. They call themselves Sigmund Floyd and “Plato’s Cave” is their first song.