fandomhigh | Ethics [Tuesday, March 3, 2nd period]

A very tanned Anakin leaned a little uncomfortably against his desk as he waited for the students to take their seats.

"Today we talk about diligence, temperance, and forgiveness," he said quietly, "and we're going to use examples from the midterm exam to do so."

He flipped the hologram to life, focusing on a shot of Palpatine's face. "The goal was to save this man, the democratically chosen leader of your galaxy, at the cost--if necessary--of your own lives. After the first dozen or so droids shooting at you, you certainly had the option of retreating and leaving the mission for someone else to complete. So when does diligence turn to foolhardiness?"

The holocam switched to footage of two Jedi, blue blades flashing, taking on an older man wielding a red lightsaber. The battle was moving at least three times as fast as the exercise had. The older Jedi went ricocheting into a wall, then the second one, fire in his eyes, closed in on their opponent. A few moments later the Sith dropped to his knees with two lightsabers held to his throat.

The Jedi wielding the lightsabers looked an awful lot like their teacher.

"Temperance," Anakin said softly. "Do you kill him now? He's dangerous. He held the head of a galaxy-wide government hostage. He injured your partner. He certainly tried to kill you first. Or do you capture him and leave him to the whims of the courts?"

He shook his head. "Finally, forgiveness. You save the chancellor, at great personal expense, only to discover he's not the kind of man you thought he was. Your act of heroism has managed to make the situation at home much, much worse. How do you forgive yourself for it? Can you forgive the others who put you into that position?"

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"I'm sorry," Peter said, and meant it. "But I can't give up on people. Not if there's a chance they can be saved."

"My son thinks the same way," Anakin replied. "But sometimes there's just not a way out. It's one of the hardest lessons either of you will learn."

"Who says we're wrong?" Peter replied.

"Reality," Anakin said shortly.

"That's not reality," Peter said. "It's opinion. I'm not trying to diminish what he did. But if you're asking me if I would give up on somebody because they'd done evil things the answer is no. I don't think anybody can be given up on. Because if that's the route we take, what exactly makes us the good guys?"

"He didn't just do evil things," Anakin said. "He was evil. Rotten to the core. The antithesis of everything Jedi stand for. Reptilian and horrifying. There are shades of gray, but there's also black and white. Some things just aren't negotiable."

"White can become black, black can become white," Peter pointed out. "Which is probably why most things are gray. We're not gods. We don't get to decide what's purely good or purely bad. We don't even have that capacity to know."

"And most of the time black stays black," Anakin retorted. "Are you going to try to heal serial killers with hugs and cookies?"

"I don't bake," Peter said, deadpan.

"Thank the Force for that, then," Anakin replied, equally dry.

"Still not changing my mind," Peter told him. ~~"Not even if you gave me a helmet."~~

Anakin shook his head. "Sometimes faith just isn't enough, young one," he said before walking away.

"That's why there's love," Peter said. He didn't mind if he was the only one who heard it. He had plenty of practice with that back home.

Ethics [Tuesday, March 3, 2nd period]

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Re: Answer the discussion question: temperance

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Re: Answer the discussion question: temperance

Re: Answer the discussion question: temperance