fandomhigh | Ethics [Thursday, January 10]

Anakin walked into his classroom precisely on time and gave the students assembled there an appraising glance.

Except for how his glance lingered on a couple of faces as his eyes widened slightly, it wasn't possible to tell what he thought of them.

"I'm Master Skywalker," he said in a voice that was intended to carry, "this is Ethics, and we're going to skip the introductions--I'll figure out who you are--and move straight to our first discussion."

He paced around the room, cloak flaring out behind him, as he handed out the syllabus. "Today's topic," he said. "Self sacrifice: knowing the difference between saving people and being a pretentious twit."

"Any time I ask a a group of people what they would do to save someone they love, they all blither on about how they would set the world on fire, lie, cheat, steal, kill, die, et cetera, et cetera. I've been at this school too long to believe that half of you haven't already been put into this situation and I'm in no mood to hear adolescent ramblings about how wonderful you were or might hypothetically be. We're going to ground it in reality.

"Over the summer there was a woman who was in charge of this school. She had been placed in power legitimately, was allowed to punish in accordance with that power, and began pushing the boundaries of her authority almost immediately. She called students to her office, punished them for slights genuine or imagined, and began escalating the severity and frequency of her punishments, going over the line into what was no longer acceptable."

Anakin crossed his arms over his chest, the scars across his face very evident in the light coming through the window. "It eventually took a team of highly qualified adults to take her out. Today's topic: when do you draw the line? When do you admit to yourself that a problem cannot be solved, that to sacrifice yourself isn't a statement, it's merely pointless? How long does it take for you to check your ego?"

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Romeo was fairly certain this was one of those times when Friar Laurence would have advised him to remain silent, and let his elders hold their opinions.

And yet.

"But is not love the noblest thing to die for of all?" he ventured. "Nobler still if 'tis not returned."

Anakin badly wanted to hide his face in his hands. He settled for a heavy sigh.

"A lot of very noble actions can come from loving another person," he agreed, "but it can also turn someone selfish, needy, and stupid. You can write in poetry that you'd die to see her smile, but you don't actually die to see her smile."

"What about trying to die to be with her?" Romeo asked, before he could stop himself. "Or the reverse."

This time Anakin did run his hands through his hair. "Then one or both of you are dead and you're not together anyway and it kind of defeats the entire point."

"But if you are both dead, at least you are together in death," Romeo said, intent. "It is better than being apart on Earth."

"It depends entirely upon the religion," Anakin said. "Many don't look favorably upon taking your life for overdramatic reasons."

Romeo decided right about then that Master Skywalker had never been in love, never would be in love, and therefore had no idea what he was saying.

This realization, and a fist clenched on his seat, kept him from rushing up to hit the teacher in the face. "I see, Sir," he muttered neutrally into his notebook, flushed face bowed.

Ethics [Thursday, January 10]

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