fandomhigh | Ethics [Tuesday, January 26, 2nd period]

When the students came into the classroom, they found Anakin scrawling a quote on the board:

“In general, pride is at the bottom of all great mistakes.”--John Ruskin

He turned around with an eyebrow raised. "Is Master Ruskin correct? How about Master Lao Tzu? He said: 'Pride attaches undue importance to the superiority of one's status in the eyes of others; and shame is fear of humiliation at one's inferior status in the estimation of others. When one sets his heart on being highly esteemed, and achieves such rating, then he is automatically involved in fear of losing his status.'"

He began pacing around the room. "Does pride always go before a fall? Do we have to be humiliated before we can learn? How high do the stakes have to be before we'll admit we've made a mistake, or have been fooled?"

"In order to deal ethically with other people, we need to acknowledge this very human flaw in ourselves and others. We want to believe that we are different, better than everyone around us." His gaze sharpened. "We're not. Everything is connected. You, me, the desks, the rocks outside, the deer in the preserve, the annoying person in the dorm who plays their music too loudly. Take pride in being yourself, certainly," he concluded. "But don't for a moment believe that who you are makes you more than the person sitting next to you. Because that kind of pride is where you make your first mistake."

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"Of course you do," Anakin said, beginning to lose patience a little. "No one is perfect. Even droids malfunction."

"I don't know if I appreciate the droid comparison, but sure." She was pretty obviously missing the point.

Anakin very consciously did not sigh. "Why don't you think there is value in admitting you've made a mistake?" he tried instead.

"What does it gain you?" Triela asked seriously. "It only serves to lower other peoples' expectations, and increases the chance that they will not trust your ability in the future."

"It dooms you to make the same mistake over and over because you won't learn from it," Anakin replied. "Other people's expectations are immaterial."

Triela frowned, "Why must you admit a mistake in order to learn from it? Shouldn't it be enough to acknowledge to yourself that you made it even if you never tell anyone about it?"

"Will you acknowledge it to yourself, though?" Anakin replied. "Or will you pretend it didn't happen?"

"I will acknowledge it for myself and then pretend it didn't happen if anyone asks." Because that totally made sense and was in no way a contradiction.

"And that doesn't smack of pride to you?" Anakin asked.

"I suppose it might be," Triela admitted with a slight shrug. "But if it is, then I don't see why it's a bad thing."

Anakin restrained himself from the urge to beat his head against the wall. "Because pride in what you can accomplish can blind you to seeing mistakes you're making," he said.

"It hasn't been a problem for me," she pointed out ~~like an idiot~~ reasonably.

"That you know about," Anakin retorted. "No one's that good. And I'm good."

"I am." And she didn't have any doubt in that 'fact'.

Anakin let out a heavy sigh. "Fine. Glad I won't be around to pick up the pieces when your inevitable blindness on this blows up spectacularly in your face. Karma kind of loves that."

Triela just smiled, quite confident that this would never be something she had to worry about.

~~But soon she'll go through canon and find out just how wrong she is.~~

Ethics [Tuesday, January 26, 2nd period]

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