Ye Shall Be As Gods? - Class 2, Period 3

[last-mizrahi.livejournal.com]

"Last week," Juli began, once all the students had come in and settled down, "we discussed personal limits and ways to grow beyond them. Now, we move outwards onto bigger topics. Our topic for today is, perhaps, one of the most impressive natural limitations. Of all the boundaries that our various worlds share, one is constant and that one is – Death. Specifically, we will be taking a close look at resurrection."

"From the beginning of time people have been interested in cheating death, escaping that final equalizer that renders us all the same." Juli looked over her class. "What is it, do you think, that drives people to try and deny that limit? To snatch people back who’ve already gone. What arrogance is it that makes us think we’ve a right to say when anyone may live or die?"

"What arrogance could drive each of you to try and cheat death? Take back from death and have someone live again. What consequences to bringing someone back from the dead can you foresee? If no one can die what happens to society as a whole? It’s all very well to say ‘I want to bring back this person’ but then, someone else will wonder ‘well, why can’t I do the same?’ and, as for all things, it will grow from there until letting someone go becomes impossible."

"If no one dies, then nothing ever changes. Each individual death hurts someone – but, in the long run, a cessation of death would hurt everyone. There is no room for growth in a world without death. It is the other side of life, and no less vital. People know this," a faint smile that’s almost sad, "but this knowledge does not stop us from making the attempt time after time. What is it that makes us so determined to go ahead no matter what the cost?"

"All things, in time, will pass," she said quietly, "it is something that we must discover over and over again – and something that will never be fully learned. Please split into groups of two and discuss the consequences of resurrection, both on personal level and on a societal whole."

"I am, as always, available after class if you have need of me."

[Wait for the OCD is up! Have at it!]

Comments

Re: Discuss!

[time-flyer-5.livejournal.com]

Jen who was going to get SO much mileage out of this icon today had pulled her Time Force badge out of her pocket and was turning it over in her hands by way of fidgeting uncomfortably.

Re: Discuss!

[practicaldevice.livejournal.com]

"Anathema Device." Anathema said as she sat down next to Jen.

Re: Discuss!

[time-flyer-5.livejournal.com]

"Never heard of it," Jen said absently.

She was distracted by emo, okay?

Re: Discuss!

[practicaldevice.livejournal.com]

Anathema gave an un-ladylike snort. "That's my name."

Re: Discuss!

[time-flyer-5.livejournal.com]

"Oh." Jen finally looked up at the girl sitting beside her. "Sorry. Jen Scotts."

Re: Discuss!

[practicaldevice.livejournal.com]

"Nice to meet you." Anathema said, still grinning. "Want to pair up?"

Re: Discuss!

[time-flyer-5.livejournal.com]

Jen nodded. "Yeah, sure. You have any personal experience with resurrection?"

Re: Discuss!

[practicaldevice.livejournal.com]

"Not personally, but there are references to resurrection in ...well, literary references. You?"

Re: Discuss!

[time-flyer-5.livejournal.com]

"Not intentionally, no," Jen said half to herself.

Re: Discuss!

[practicaldevice.livejournal.com]

"How can you resurrect someone unintentionally?"

Re: Discuss!

[time-flyer-5.livejournal.com]

"I don't know how or when exactly it happened," Jen replied. "All I know is something went wrong, and he came back. But he was different."

Re: Discuss!

[practicaldevice.livejournal.com]

"Oh." Anathema processed all that. "Evil? Or a zombie?"

Re: Discuss!

[time-flyer-5.livejournal.com]

"Neither," Jen said quickly, and with a vehemence that surprised her, because Alex might be a hard bastard now but she'd never be able to think of him as evil. "Just changed."

Re: Discuss!

[practicaldevice.livejournal.com]

"I see. How did he come back?"

Re: Discuss!

[time-flyer-5.livejournal.com]

Jen shook her head and fiddled with the base of her left ring finger, even though there was nothing there. "Cold. Distant. Harsh. I don't know why. When he died I thought I would've done anything to bring him back, but now I doubt I'd ever try anything like that on purpose."

Re: Discuss!

[practicaldevice.livejournal.com]

"I meant how did he come back from the dead?" Anathema asked softly.

Re: Discuss!

[time-flyer-5.livejournal.com]

Jen took a deep breath and stared at her hands. "My friends and I went back in time after the mut -- the man who killed him. He made us promise not to stop until we'd captured him and brought him to justice. But somehow, something we did in the past altered the future and he never died. I don't know what happened to make him so different, though."

Re: Discuss!

[practicaldevice.livejournal.com]

"Oh." Anathema may have been making mental notes for future referance.

Re: Discuss!

[time-flyer-5.livejournal.com]

'Oh' was really about the most appropriate response Jen could have come up with herself, actually. "So even if I didn't mean to do it, I think I can say that the personal consequences aren't what you'd think they would be. For society as a whole, though . . . I'm not so sure."