Ethics [Monday, February 12, 5th period]

[southernbender.livejournal.com]

There was not, for once, a pissed off Lord of the Sith sweeping into the Ethics classroom.  Instead, Katara bounced in a few minutes late.

"Hi!  So Professor Vader went away and couldn't be here today.  But I was given lesson plans so we can still have class."  She grinned and looked far too pleased to be in charge.  "I know we'll miss him horribly.  We're supposed to talk about immortality today.  And what you'd give up to get it for yourself or a loved one."

Katara wrinkled her nose, then consciously lowered her voice to a deep growl and tried to mimic Vader's stalk across the room.  "Many beings have to make life-altering choices in order to avoid dying, or to try to avoid someone they love dying."  She paused, trying both not to giggle and to remember the notes she had puzzled out.  "They torture, they make pacts with the spirits, they sell their souls, they give up their faces."  Katara had the mimicry in full swing and while a 15 year old girl could only sound so much like Vader, she had the walk and was giving the voice her best shot.  "They massacre like the Fire Nation, clone themselves and try to stop time even though that's a silly idea."

She spun around, trying to be half as pretentious imposing as their teacher.  "Today we are to discuss what you would give up in order to live forever."  Katara glanced at her notes.  "And 'you wouldn't' is not an acceptable answer."

[OOC: Wait for OCD please is up!  I'm going to be going to bed in a short while, but I'll be up by 7:15 EST to play]

Comments

What Would You Do To Live Forever?

[southernbender.livejournal.com]

Who or what would you give up for the promise of immortality?

Re: What Would You Do To Live Forever?

[cat-in-the-box.livejournal.com]

"There's a good chance that I actually can't answer that question."

Re: What Would You Do To Live Forever?

[southernbender.livejournal.com]

"Of course you can answer it," Katara said. "Doesn't mean it's going to come true. But then it probably won't come true for most people in the room too."

Re: What Would You Do To Live Forever?

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

Walter shook his head. "You don't understand. 'I wouldn't,' is the only answer. There is no such thing as immortality."

Re: What Would You Do To Live Forever?

[southernbender.livejournal.com]

Katara crossed her arms. "And I didn't think there was such a thing as space and spaceships six weekend ago. How d'you know that's always true?"

Re: What Would You Do To Live Forever?

[dark_slippy_thing]

Valentine tilted his head in consideration, then shrugged. "I suppose that depends on what the immortality is worth. I wouldn't give up, say, eating to live forever, or my juggling, because then what would I have left? Forever without the things that make it worthwhile doesn't seem like a forever worth living, you know?"

Re: What Would You Do To Live Forever?

[southernbender.livejournal.com]

She had to take a second to parse that answer. "Eating is your everything?"

Re: What Would You Do To Live Forever?

[sneerkite]

Steerpike pondered this question for a good long while.

"There is . . . only one thing of any value that a person could give up," he said slowly. "And that is life. So the question is moot. You can't give up life in order to get eternal life. Well, not your own. Anything else is merely . . . small change."

Re: What Would You Do To Live Forever?

[southernbender.livejournal.com]

"So you'd give up other people's lives without hesitation?" she asked.

Re: What Would You Do To Live Forever?

[stocksgrrl.livejournal.com]

"What about those of us who wouldn't want to live forever?" Turtle asked, once she got over the pure shock and desperation that Vader wasn't conducting class this week. She's actually have to try something difficult to get detention now...With Vader, it'd be easy; she'd have to prey on a different teacher now. "I mean, the only sort of immortality I would want is in name, and I can get that myself without having to sacrifice anything."

Re: What Would You Do To Live Forever?

[southernbender.livejournal.com]

Katara shrugged. "I think Darth Vader can't imagine the idea of not wanting immortality."

Re: What Would You Do To Live Forever?

[2-twin-devils-2.livejournal.com]

"I wouldn't really want immortality." Kaoru thought about living forever, especially without his brother...not only would it be dull, it would get sooo tireing...

Re: What Would You Do To Live Forever?

[southernbender.livejournal.com]

"What about for someone else?" Katara asked. "What if that was the only way you could keep them from dying a horrible death?"

Re: What Would You Do To Live Forever?

[irulan-atreides.livejournal.com]

Irulan thought about it, Melange already gave that possibility to her, the possibility of a very long life. But a life lived forever without end? It seemed... wearying.

"I would give nothing, I already have something that can extend my life far beyond the normal means extending it further would only be a waste."

Re: What Would You Do To Live Forever?

[southernbender.livejournal.com]

"And what did you give up to get that?" Katara asked.

Re: What Would You Do To Live Forever?

[saltandammo.livejournal.com]

Dean shook his head. "I don't want to live forever," he said.

Re: What Would You Do To Live Forever?

[southernbender.livejournal.com]

"Why not?" Katara asked.

Re: What Would You Do To Live Forever?

[likethegun]

"What I would give up depends on whether I'm getting immortality for myself, or for someone else," Sam said.

Re: What Would You Do To Live Forever?

[bruiser-in-pink.livejournal.com]

Molly was just going to skip the part about arguing that she wouldn't choose to live forever.

"If I decided that I wanted to live forever, it wouldn't matter what I gave up," she said. "If I became immortal, I wouldn't be human anymore and the things I cared about as a human would no longer be important. The lives of my loved ones wouldn't matter to me anymore since I would outlive them. It would be easier to sacrifice them first and save myself the heartache of watching them all grow old and die."

Re: What Would You Do To Live Forever?

[lovechildblair.livejournal.com]

"That would be so awesome." Blair grinned, imagining the papers he would be able to write if he was immortal. "I would give up...well, a lot. Maybe not the ability to write or read since I would need those. But anything else, fair game."

Re: What Would You Do To Live Forever?

[thebluespirit.livejournal.com]

"I don't answer to you," Zuko crossed his arms.

Re: What Would You Do To Live Forever?

[strahl-pirate.livejournal.com]

Balthier listened to others replies and chuckled. "There seemed to be an almost unanimous vote not to live forever. And speaking as someone who knows a gal who viturally has. Immortality is not all that it's cracked up to be," the pirate paused. "However, if it were, then the matter of what you would give up would entirely depend on the situation that you foudn yourself faced with."

Re: What Would You Do To Live Forever?

[morpherboy.livejournal.com]

"Pay a lot of money?"

Re: What Would You Do To Live Forever?

[whitedeathpod.livejournal.com]

"I wouldn't want to live forever," John decided. "It's just...not supposed to happen."

Re: What Would You Do To Live Forever?

[http://users.livejournal.com/weissguy_/]

"Hey, Katara, um... my answer seriously is I wouldn't. Are you gonna tell Professor Vader?"