endsthegame (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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fandomhigh2014-05-19 01:46 pm
endsthegame) wrote in fandomhigh2014-05-19 01:46 pm
Entry tags:
Practical Philosophy, Monday
"There are those of us who come here believing very strongly in duty," Ender said. "Others who come here to escape it - and some to who it's absolutely not a part of their lives."
He smiled a little.
"I had a mentor, once," he said. "I was told that people were free, unless humanity needed them, and that humanity never asked us to be happy, merely to act on its behalf - for its survival. Happiness, he felt, was a luxury that at times we could scarcely afford. To opt out of doing our duty at such a time was the worst crime imaginable: a crime of stupidity."
He took a sip of water. "I've met people who disagreed, since," he said. "I've also met people whose lives were so intricately bound to these rules they didn't even know where they stopped and the rules began. Some of you have already made your views fairly clear already, but I'm curious as to everyone else's input, too.
"How important is duty? Do we people all carry some grand responsibility to our species, or should we exist only for ourselves and the development of our self? And if we live for duty, then when does that end? Is there some point where all of us may be afforded personal freedom, or are we perpetually tied to our responsibilities, whether we flee from them or not?"
He smiled a little.
"I had a mentor, once," he said. "I was told that people were free, unless humanity needed them, and that humanity never asked us to be happy, merely to act on its behalf - for its survival. Happiness, he felt, was a luxury that at times we could scarcely afford. To opt out of doing our duty at such a time was the worst crime imaginable: a crime of stupidity."
He took a sip of water. "I've met people who disagreed, since," he said. "I've also met people whose lives were so intricately bound to these rules they didn't even know where they stopped and the rules began. Some of you have already made your views fairly clear already, but I'm curious as to everyone else's input, too.
"How important is duty? Do we people all carry some grand responsibility to our species, or should we exist only for ourselves and the development of our self? And if we live for duty, then when does that end? Is there some point where all of us may be afforded personal freedom, or are we perpetually tied to our responsibilities, whether we flee from them or not?"
Re: Talk.
Re: Talk.
"So you asked me why I felt responsible to step up to the position I was born into out of a concern for my ability to handle the pressure?"
She did not actually think this was the case.
Re: Talk.
Re: Talk.
Yeah, Elsa. About that...
Re: Talk.
Re: Talk.
Elsa had no idea what to do with a wink like that. Absolutely none.
Re: Talk.
"Don't worry about it."
Re: Talk.
"Oh, believe me, I'm trying not to."
That was not an awkward squeak. Honest.
Re: Talk.
Re: Talk.
Congratulations, Cade!
Re: Talk.
Re: Talk.
At all. Same thing.
Re: Talk.
Re: Talk.
Help.
"Thank you, Cade," she managed, striving desperately to go for 'poised' and mostly just managing 'flustered.' "I'll think about it."
It would be most unladylike to lock herself in her dorm room closet after class, never to come out again. Anyway, snow queens and wardrobes didn't tend to mix well.