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fandomhigh2024-10-02 04:53 pm
despisestheforce) wrote in fandomhigh2024-10-02 04:53 pm
Entry tags:
Morality of Action, Wednesday Afternoon
Today, they would find themselves back in a regular classroom. Kreia sat at the front, on the floor, in the traditional meditation pose.
"Great men must do great deeds, or so many believe," she said. "A hero strikes the villain with their sword, and the villain perishes, and we are all saved."
She looked up - in a manner of speaking - and let out a scoff. "The reality, of course, is not nearly so simple," she said. "We are all heroes and villains both, and our greatest acts can be the smallest of gestures. You pass coin to a beggar that he has not earned, and you inspire others to take that which they have not earned: you deprive him of a chance to prove himself capable of doing something worth that coin, while others fail their own moral tests as they choose to take from him what they cannot earn themselves."
Her mouth set in a thin line. "I have also seen the reverse, of course. A man sees a lesser reduced to their knees, and strikes them merely because he can. He thinks himself strong, when he is weak. And perhaps his lesser endures, and becomes stronger for it. Wiser. In such small choices, our fates are written. I suppose if there is any lesson I hope you take away from this journey this semester, it is to be thoughtful of what you do, to whom, for what reason."
She rose to her feet.
"Too often we mistake the actions that make us feel good for actions that are good," she said. "One must be wary of these things. Consider the point of view of those you are acting towards. That does not mean you must act to their benefit, mind you. But one must be mindful of what-- dominoes, I believe is the term used here, one tips over."
"Could you conceive of a course of action that would help this beggar, knowing now what you know?" she asked. "That violence will be enacted on him, that he will be stripped of whatever you have given him, if you simply hand him this coin? That to enact violence on him would diminish you as much, if not more, as him? Would you ignore him, and hope there is a better test waiting for him? Would you give him greater aid, knowing that in doing so, you are choosing to lift up one man when so many others suffer? I am interested in your choices."
"Great men must do great deeds, or so many believe," she said. "A hero strikes the villain with their sword, and the villain perishes, and we are all saved."
She looked up - in a manner of speaking - and let out a scoff. "The reality, of course, is not nearly so simple," she said. "We are all heroes and villains both, and our greatest acts can be the smallest of gestures. You pass coin to a beggar that he has not earned, and you inspire others to take that which they have not earned: you deprive him of a chance to prove himself capable of doing something worth that coin, while others fail their own moral tests as they choose to take from him what they cannot earn themselves."
Her mouth set in a thin line. "I have also seen the reverse, of course. A man sees a lesser reduced to their knees, and strikes them merely because he can. He thinks himself strong, when he is weak. And perhaps his lesser endures, and becomes stronger for it. Wiser. In such small choices, our fates are written. I suppose if there is any lesson I hope you take away from this journey this semester, it is to be thoughtful of what you do, to whom, for what reason."
She rose to her feet.
"Too often we mistake the actions that make us feel good for actions that are good," she said. "One must be wary of these things. Consider the point of view of those you are acting towards. That does not mean you must act to their benefit, mind you. But one must be mindful of what-- dominoes, I believe is the term used here, one tips over."
"Could you conceive of a course of action that would help this beggar, knowing now what you know?" she asked. "That violence will be enacted on him, that he will be stripped of whatever you have given him, if you simply hand him this coin? That to enact violence on him would diminish you as much, if not more, as him? Would you ignore him, and hope there is a better test waiting for him? Would you give him greater aid, knowing that in doing so, you are choosing to lift up one man when so many others suffer? I am interested in your choices."