[Text] [Anon]

[grapeeater]

[He's been thinking over this for days. Is it his duty or not? It's not like he really needs the opinions of other people... but maybe another perspective might not hurt. Not like any of them here are normal, but some... are closer than he was.]

I've got a question. If you don't care, feel free to skip this over - there's no obligation to answer.

Say you're someone powerful, whatever that means to you. You might have money, you might have skills, or you might have whatever else that gives you an advantage over other people.

Now say there's a threat, something that risks destroying you and the people you have an advantage over. If you do nothing, you might be safe but other people would die. But if you give everything, they might be safe but you would die.

How much are you obligated to give? Be selfish and survive? Or sacrifice yourself for people who might not be thankful? And why?

Comments

[grapeeater]

[Not everyone can be from a sparkly pony world, unfortunately.]

Not really. It's only a matter of time until he gets it.

[friendyousohard]

[It's like what would have happened if she'd actually lost against any of her enemies.

Total loss, that is.]

I don't know what to say. I certainly can't blame you if you decided to just be selfish after that kind of devastating loss. I'd like to believe there's always a way to come back no matter how bad things get, but you know the situation on your world better than I could ever hope to, so...

[grapeeater]

It's difficult to tell. I don't think so, but... well. I've been surprised before.

[friendyousohard]

I guess the only thing to do is hope. Which I understand might be rather difficult for you at this point.

And, well... to maybe make a better life here.

[grapeeater]

Yeah. It's a lot nicer here. Less... harsh.

[friendyousohard]

Beyond the reality of being attacked by wild Pokemon every few steps outside the cities and the ever-looming threat of Team Rocket, it's really almost surreal how peaceful this place is. Then again, if it weren't for the occasional world-ending threat I suppose you could probably say the same about my home world.

[grapeeater]

Neither of those are really big threats, though, are they? As long as you train your Pokemon up you'll be fine in either case, right?


And... oh. That sounds... difficult.

[friendyousohard]

Well, after a certain point, that's mostly true, especially the wild Pokemon. But Team Rocket outnumbers individual trainers and some of their members have trained their Pokemon to attack trainers instead of their Pokemon. They're still dangerous no matter how strong you are.

As for my world, it's not really that bad... I mean, we have beaten them all so far.

[grapeeater]

I guess that makes sense, since it seems like the logical move in a battle. It's only because of this world's rules that people generally don't. But I can defend myself... and if all else fails, I can run.

But that's good.

[friendyousohard]

I'm glad to hear that. I know a distressingly large number of people who would stand their ground even if it's a terrible idea. Courage is laudable, but foolishness isn't.

Anyway, we've sort of strayed from the topic, haven't we? I suppose... in the end, I think that everyone has a responsibility to do something, but by the same token, trying to force all of that onto one person's shoulders without supporting them is wrong, too. I can't tell someone in good conscience to risk their life for people who aren't willing to at least help them however they can, even if it's just little things. That's not heroism. It's abuse.

[grapeeater]

Agreed. Though I'm starting to think that perhaps this is one of those circumstances where there's no right answer, or that everyone involved was wrong in some way.

[friendyousohard]

Those are a lot more common than the reverse, sadly. I hope you weren't looking for a simple answer... outside of the realm of mathematics, there are precious few of those in any world.

[grapeeater]

No, though most people think it's simple.

Though math doesn't always have simple answers. It depends on the type of math.

[friendyousohard]

Well, maybe not so much "simple" as "definite". My point is, a lot of things don't have a single right answer. There is no "one true way".

[grapeeater]

That's fair. There's a lot of things that have far too much grey area.

[friendyousohard]

It does mean you have more of a chance to make your own answers to life's questions, at least.