fandomhigh | Ethics [Thursday, October 29, 1st period]

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Ethics [Thursday, October 29, 1st period]

Judging from what Raven had told him about Tuesday night and what several members of his class had seen, Anakin believed that this lecture probably couldn't have come at a better time.

"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 with a wave of his hand and it focused in 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 Sith Lord arrived, you certainly had the option of retreating and leaving the mission for someone else to complete. A Sith's job, after all, is to kill Jedi, and there were only two of you against him. 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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He's rather hoping at least a few of you might....

Raven, of course, had to ask. "Did that truly happen?" she said softly. "Was that you?"

Anakin didn't dissemble. "It was," he said with a nod, then gave Raven a tiny smile. "I have a bit of experience making the wrong choices, too, young one."

"But you did not know," Raven said. "You were doing your duty to save him."

"My duty was to capture the Sith Lord and return the Chancellor to Coruscant. I killed Dooku because I was far too angry," Anakin replied.

"Like what I did," Raven said slowly. It oddly made her feel better to know Anakin had done something similar.

[PS: Mousing over icon for keyword = me needing to clean my monitor.]

Anakin nodded. "I know exactly how you feel sometimes," he said softly. "And I also know those impulses can be controlled."

[\o/]

"And I must become as strong in that as you are," Raven said.

"I've had a little more practice at it," Anakin said. "The man who was thrown into the wall was like a ~~boyfriend~~ brother to me, but I overreacted in what I did to Dooku."

"It is more difficult to control a reaction when a loved one is in danger," Raven said. "That is why those of Azarath had to banish positive feelings with the negative."

"Jedi as well," he said, nodding. "Not banish, precisely, but definitely set aside."

"I think I understand better now why they did that," Raven said. "But after actually experiencing emotion, I cannot agree. Emotions may lead to mistakes, but without them...life is just so empty."

"And less complicated, which is probably at least part of the appeal," Anakin replied.

Re: Talk to Anakin [10/29]

trigons_child - 2009-10-30 04:17 (UTC) - Expand

Karla hesitantly approached him after class. "I didn't mean to cause any trouble with my answers today, sir. It's just--my people look at these things very differently."

"There's nothing wrong with debate," Anakin said, keeping his tone even. "Ethics depends largely on perspective and what we have been taught. I've never heard of a culture where murder wasn't considered a crime before."

"My culture is ~~vry vry speschul~~ very different from just about any other one I've heard of here," Karla said, sounding almost apologetic. "Murder isn't encouraged or anything of the like, but...our law--or lack of one, really--make sense if you know more about our culture."

Warlord Princes were also very, very special.

Examining the tips of her toes very carefull, Karla asked the real question she'd been worried about. "I know Raven told you everything. Are--are you mad at me?"

"Oh, young one, of course not," Anakin said softly. "Sit down?"

Karla sat, already sternly telling herself she wasn't going to start crying again. "B-but Ben and Raven were both there. And they're hurting and Raven used her powers and it's all my fault!"

She started sniffling. Way to keep a stiff upper lip there, Karla.

Anakin crouched down to look into her eyes. "It isn't your fault," he said firmly. "Raven made her own decisions. That's part of forgiveness, too. You can't hold choices others make against yourself."

"They were still there," she said quietly, working to get the sniffling--she had a cold!--under control. "They saw things they shouldn't have. That hurt them. I'm sorry--so, so, sorry--that they did. And I'm mad at me for putting them in there. I can understand why you would be, too."

Anakin reached out with the Force to yank the box of tissues from his desk and over to within Karla's reach. Colds were such a bother. Really.

"I'm not angry," Anakin said. Well, he was, but it wasn't directed at Karla. "How is your friend?"

"She doesn't remember anything," Karla said softly, reaching for a tissue. Is she surreptitiously dabbed at her eyes while blowing her nose, who knew? "But she knows something isn't right, I think. After the--after she got hurt, she was in a coma for two years. She tried to sever the link between her Self and her body. Even now, she resents her body and abuses it for being the instrument used to hurt her. Something happened that triggered those memories and they came out as nightmares. She didn't eat, did her best not to sleep, punished herself for it. So--so I took her nightmares away. Unfortunately, they overwhelmed my defenses and became my own for awhile."

He nodded. "Will you tell her about what happened?" he asked.

Karla shook her head. "If she's not ready to face up to what happened, I'm not going to push," she stated with all the authority of a Black Widow. "There's a reason her mind is protecting her this way. If she needs to forget about it to heal completely then that's what has to happen. She's my Queen and I'll protect her with everything I have." She gave him a small, humorless smile. "If she were on the ship, there is nothing I would not sacrifice to finish the mission."

Anakin had expected something like that answer. "And what do you need to heal?"