fandomhigh | 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?"

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Responsibly.

Or enjoy the outside.

Duty and responsibility - where do you fall?

Ender's keeping - mostly - quiet on his personal feelings on this one.

Who probably has some very strong opinions on this.

Who definitely has some strong opinions on this, but won't share them, probably.

I'm out on my dad's campaign trail so I won't be around much - but please do talk among yourselves, and I'll try to grab pings here and there.

Barry Ween

"Mixture of both in my opinion. You have some duty to look out for your own but you are also responsible for your own actions."

Cade definitely had some opinions on this, and wouldn't be keeping them to himself much today.

"Who counts as 'your own'?" Cade asked, sipping from his slightly doctored coffee.

Elsa of Arendelle

Elsa was once again content to sit with her bottle of water. It was a nice day, she was pretty certain. Of course, Elsa was the last person anybody wanted to go to if they needed to ask if there was a chill in the air.

Responsibility. That was quite the topic, indeed.

"Most of my life has been about duty and responsibility," Elsa noted. "Here has been a pleasant change of pace, but it can hardly last forever. So... I'll enjoy the freedom I have while I'm here, but I really can't afford to brush off the responsibilities that I've got to the people back home. Passing them off on my sister wouldn't be fair to anybody. She's not ready for that sort of weight on her shoulders. It should be a long time before she needs to be."

Truth be told, Elsa wasn't certain she was ready for it, either. But with her parents gone, she was going to have to be ready, either way.

"It's hardly a responsibility to the entire species," she added, "but to people whose well-being is directly tied to how well I do my job later, it still means quite a lot. I don't get the luxury of escaping that, once it's my turn to step up."

... She was clearly not picturing herself being run out of the kingdom on her coronation day, no.

"Whatever you define as your own," Barry said with a shrug. "Your family. Your friends. Your tribe. Your country. Your world. Pick one and roll with it."

"Nah, I meant for you personally," Cade said. "Roommate yes, island no? Kark all of us?"

Cade was apparently feeling chatty today. "So it's more the responsibility you feel for not leaving your sister in the lurch than any 'yay, leadership' thing?"

"Fuck," Barry answered. "You're talking here? I don't know. Probably the island if someone nagged me enough."

"I live here," Cade said with a little grin. "I don't care what you'll do at home. I won't to know how much of my own ass I need to be watching when the next batch of weird hits."

Anders

"I'm really not sold on the 'yay' part of 'yay, leadership,'" Elsa admitted. "But it's not even completely about my sister, either. I would feel terrible doing that to her, and to the rest of the-- to everyone that would become her responsibility. But back there, with that responsibility on my shoulders... that's the place where I'm meant to be."

"You want me to watch your ass?" Barry said craning his neck around to check out Cade's butt. "I don't know. Looks too fucking lumpy if you ask me. How much of it needs watching?"

"Shit. Damn, Elsa," Barry said shaking his head. "You so need to jump on your bed once."

"All of it," Cade said. "It's an amazing ass."

This conversation degenerated quickly...

Elsa blinked up at that, and then she laughed a little, shaking her own head.

"I'm still nerving myself up to that," she replied. "I'm not in any hurry to break the bed or fall off of it, either."

It was almost a metaphor. Somehow.

"It depends, doesn't it?" Anders asked. "I think you have a duty to make whatever's in front of you better -- but at the same time, a life where you never take the time to make yourself happy sounds like no life at all. I'd say duty comes first when there's a crisis, and the rest of the time your life should be up to you."

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