fandomhigh | Ethics [Tuesday, September 2, 2nd period]

"There's a very famous story on this world," Anakin began. "Of the lady or the tiger. For those of you not from this world, the short version is there was a fictional king with his own sense of justice: instead of a court system, he had an arena with two doors. Behind one door was a beautiful woman, handpicked by the king. Behind the other was a tiger. If you chose the tiger, you were eaten and declared guilty. If you chose the lady, you were considered innocent and married the lady. The king didn't care about your previous marital status or sexual orientation, apparently."

He began pacing. "One day the king discovered that his daughter had been having an affair with someone far below her station, so the man was arrested and tossed into the arena. Now the princess knew which door has what behind it, and her lover looked up to her for advice. She had two choices: watch her love die, or marry another woman. The story ends with the princess telling him which door to open, but leaves us hanging as to what waited behind it."

Anakin smiled. "Your task today is two-fold. First, pair up with a classmate and decide what the princess did. Then tell me what you would have done in the princess's place."

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Answering the question was easy. "Marry them off," he said. No blood on his hands.

He still couldn't make it applicable in any way unless it was Val, though; and even then, the exercise seemed a little pointless. He'd already lost her several times, and he knew he'd have to give her up again eventually. It was just how things worked.

Edited 2008-12-02 15:55 (UTC)

"Why?" Anakin asked.

"It's better to be alive than dead," he said, without a doubt, "And since you're giving the other person up either way, it's not much of a choice."

"No, the king is a petty bastard," Anakin agreed. "It's not an easy choice when it isn't hypothetical. Sometimes death is the better option."

Ender looked up at him. "Rarely," he said. "If ever."

"I'd prefer death to a life of serving evil," Anakin said.

Now, anyway.

"There were times I felt like that," Ender replied. He still remembered them well. "But usually I was lying to myself."

Anakin sighed.

It wasn't fair that Ender had already faced those kind of moments, or that Ben was.

"Why would you lie to yourself about that?"

"Because something you've done seems so horrible you want to get away from yourself," he said. Down in the darkness, if you had to. "But you can only keep that up for so long. When it comes down to it, I'd rather be alive than dead."

Edited 2008-12-02 17:33 (UTC)

Anakin's lips quirked up slightly. "I'd rather you be alive, too," he said.

Ethics [Tuesday, September 2, 2nd period]

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