Part of what is mentioned in Martin Luther King's letter from Birmingham jail is the idea of learning from the past, trying to break out from the oppression of evil or injustice that can be presented to anyone. What has been talked about in our classroom lately is the question of what can be taken from these ancient writers? Can they be seen as philosophers, authors, or visionaries? MLK refers to the ancient writers such as Aquinas and Socrates and their beliefs and how they can still relate today, an aspect that many current people still forget, especially in the political scope. The idea of freedom and personal rights is something that Aquinas believed as it was rooted in the eternal, while Socrates practiced "civil disobidience" in order to show an aspect of the political system that he believed was flawed and not thought about. This is a reason that the ancients, however long ago, can still be relevant today, even now people do not recognize what MLK's message contained and just appreciate him at face value for what he gave but not always why he sacrificed himself for his cause. Regardless of the era people should look to the people who made a difference and why they acted accordingly, and people from earlier in time can still have a lot to say in contemporary times.

Intro

Currently I am a student at Baylor university studying psychology and philosophy. Most of where I feel my education is focused is on the ideas and studies surrounding people and their lives in a general sense. Psychology is about figuring out the brain and human function, along with characteristics and behaviors that follows the human race around. Philosophy is more focused on knowledge and what we as humans have the capacity to understand and what could be out there that we try to understand. I enjoy the environment that I study in for two main reasons. First, Baylor is a private university where small class sizes are very common and interaction between class mates is common so it brings the ideas of each person into a class setting where diverse ideas can be found and thought about. Second, the fact that it is a Baptist university also brings a strong pull to a religious aspect of education and learning, which helps foster a general knowledge of, mostly Christian, religious views as it is one of the biggest aspects of human life that most people on earth acknowledge. This is the focus and setting of what I have been learning about the last few years and although broad it will shed some light on the ideas and specifics of things that I talk about as my year goes on.