Ethics [Thursday, September 30]

[sith_happened]

Anakin had backed himself up against his desk looking a little hunted as a unicorn talked to him. "You're so tall," it was saying happily. "And have such nice blue eyes--"

"Um, right," he said, turning his attention to the class. "Everyone look under your chairs, please," he said. A third of the students going by how they sign into class would find a bag with a full-sized chocolate bar waiting for them. A third would find a bag with a fun-sized chocolate bar. A third would find nothing at all.

"Oooh, chocolate!" the unicorn squealed. "That's so nice!"

Anakin ignored the unicorn as he waited for whatever grumbling there might be to subside. "Anyone feeling a little ripped off right now?" he asked rhetorically. "Two minutes ago no one had any candy and everyone was fine. Now I haven't taken anything away from anyone, no one's any worse off than they were when they walked in the door, and some of you are thinking very nasty things about me. Some of you have more than you did when you came into the classroom and still feel like you've been given an unfair deal."

"That's really smart," the unicorn commented.

Anakin moved on. "Isn't envy fun? Under its grip we never concentrate on the gifts we have been given."

"Like your hair," the unicorn added.

"Instead we focus on what others have that we want," Anakin said as his cheeks heated. "It's entirely a question of attitude. Today's question: how would someone capitalize on that very human failing if they were seeking to manipulate others?"

He looked around. "And where did that rainbow come from?"

The unicorn looked embarrassed.

Comments

Re: Listen to the lecture [9/30]

[nohaircutsplz]

Warning, warning: did not compute with the princess. "I think chocolate is one of the only things the...Americans have gotten right, myself," she said as she took the candy bar. "Thank you."

Re: Listen to the lecture [9/30]

[didntchewgrass.livejournal.com]

"I suppose it may be because I come from what is predominantly farmland," Elphaba admitted. "We're not as... urban as the Emerald City or even the Gillikins, in Munchkinland."

Re: Listen to the lecture [9/30]

[nohaircutsplz]

Medusalith didn't know what those were, and was from a city, but a completely isolated one, so she said, "I see," in tones of 'I don't see.'

Re: Listen to the lecture [9/30]

[didntchewgrass.livejournal.com]

"I just mean to say that it's not something I have much at home," Elphaba said. "And since I will be returning there eventually, I don't wish to grow too enamored of it."

That was being sensible, she thought.