piper90 | 005: Knife in the Back (Locked to the Adults.)

[Yup. No teenagers allowed in this filter. Mac is only included after a very, very long and intense mental debate. The toys and the Easter Bunny, as odd as they are, are also in on it.]

So, I've been thinking. Jorgmund's doing a... job of getting everyone some sort of physical training, and there's some of us who don't mind getting a little bit of an extra hand. But we're going to be here for longer than I think any one of us anticipated.

One of the things Jorgmund isn't touching on, though, is education for anything that doesn't apply to missions. Some of these kids and, yes, some of the adults, have serious knowledge gaps.

This is going to be an unpopular idea for some of them, but I think they, and we, would benefit from setting up some sort of lesson plan, get some schooling going. Obviously not history or anything tied so closely to our worlds, but universal things like physics, math, computer skills, locksmithing, other things that could serve them later.

Any opinions? I should probably say that I'm not the most experienced when working with and educating young teens, my only experience is a few guest talks and 'field trips' with the kids at the Ravenswood Academy (I don't think Rowan's desire for secrecy there applies when there's no one from my world here) and Generation VIPER.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

trust me, trying to 'help' people who don't want it doesn't do anything except give you some self-righteous happiness.

people don't want your help for a reason. don't act like you somehow know what's best for them if they tell you to fuck off.

people like you make me sick

You’re wrong. Sometimes, it’s not just self-righteous. Sometimes it’s just plain old happiness.

I’m not talking about forcing them to eat their broccoli - I’m talking about helping people. And yes, sometimes they don’t want the help, but I still try. If I see someone about to be attacked by a gang of homicidal nuns, I kind of don’t care if they don’t want my help, because I don’t want them to die. How does doing the right thing make you sick?

because you think you know what's best for everyone and then force it on them whether they want it or not.

you act like some kind of hero but it's all about making yourself feel good.

I don’t actually know what’s best for anyone, once we get away from obvious things like not letting a piano fall on someone’s head.

It can be both. I’m not going to lie - saving someone’s life feels great. It feels great because they’re alive. It’s not because I think I’m awesome. I’m not awesome. Take volunteer work - people enjoy it. That doesn’t mean that volunteers aren’t doing something nice. You don’t have to live your life in misery and torment for your good deeds to “count.” If that were true, there’d be no such thing as a good person.

[ You don't have to live your life in misery and torment for your good deeds to count, he says. Catra, for her part, wasn't sure if her good deeds would let her live at all. If she ever did any, considering her previous trajectory in life. Her reply is a long few minutes in coming. ]

maybe there are only bad people and people who pretend they aren't.

[ It would be easier that way. ]

[ Woah. That’s a dark way to view the universe, and it makes life bleak. No wonder she’s alway so snappy. That kind of mindset makes you bitter, broken, or crazy. ]

I don’t know about that. If you pretend to be something hard enough - and you’re good at pretending -eventually you kind of become what you’re faking. At least enough to muddy the waters.

[ He shrugs a bit and draws a knee up. ]

Like the volunteer thing. Say you want someone to think you’re a good person, so you start volunteering at a hospital. You hate it, but you put in a decent effort to impress Dallas because you like them. After a year, you get recognized for volunteering over 400 hours that year.

... so, is a tick mark in the Good Person column, because you’re candy striping your heart out, or is another tick in the bad column, because you only did it for Dallas? The way I see it, the flowers got delivered, books got read, pillows fluffed. There’s a net good for the world.

[ He drums his fingers on his knee, before dipping a toe into the pool of more personal experience. ]

Besides... nobody wants to live in a world without good people, where everyone just takes or breaks until they die. I used to think like that, that everything good I did was selfish unless I had nothing. You can’t breathe thinking that way.

[ Catra finally moves on from text, her face springing into view with a sullen, unhappy expression. Progress? Maybe. ]

It must be nice to be able to think the world is better than it is.

[ He flashes her a tight smile. ]

It’s not bad. That’s why I do it.

Honestly... I cheat sometimes. If you expect the absolute worst and only want people be baseline decent, then it knocks you out when they’re actually nice. You could start there.

Oh, please. You're like the princesses, thinking that if you just try hard and believe and do your best everything will turn out for the best.

[ She scowls, her eyes sliding off the camera. ]

Sometimes you try and all you end up with is ashes.

[ He doesn’t answer for a good ten seconds, just does a thousand yard stare offscreen while he scrapes together a response. ]

Oh, come off it. I don’t know who the princesses are, I’m not naive. Doing your best is all you can do, but it doesn’t mean everything doesn’t go to shit. It just makes it worse when it does, because you know how hard you worked.

[ Even though he has an opposing viewpoint, not even the “come off it” is said harshly. Robbie sounds more neutral, almost muted, the longer he speaks. ]

I’ve been there. With the ashes. But I wasn’t dead, so eventually I had to make a choice between if I wanted to live or just... exist. I tried existing, and it was killing me. Living meant engaging, and that’s not easy either. Trying lets me sleep at night, but it doesn’t always work. I tried, and a nutcase from Atlantis hit a city with a tsunami. I’m not doing it for a trophy. I just want to breathe without feeling like my chest is in a vise.

Whatever.

[ Catra snaps the word, her eyes narrowing into a glare. She doesn't want advice. She doesn't want to be told this crap. ]

I'm still not for babysitting a bunch of kids. Or making them learn for their own good or whatever. It's not our business.

Edited 2020-08-29 20:39 (UTC)

005: Knife in the Back (Locked to the Adults.)

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