#concordian ethics: perhaps not just for the mortal

[dontpetmeibite]

I don't bother about whether or not people deserve forgiveness and I certainly don't bother about punishment.

What I know is that the universe doesn't care about justice or mercy. I was brought into this world to be dangerous, and because I was brought into this world to be dangerous they designed me to be consumable, desirable and disposable. The little spark that came out of the earth had done nothing to deserve that fate. The nobles who lived in the towers were not brought into the towers as newsparks because they deserved to be. Kind and good people suffer and cruel people often become very powerful.

Mercy and fairness are things that were not created as part of the universe, and only we as people can create them. I choose to be merciful when I can because I want others to show mercy to me and to the people I love. When I was very young I took in another young person who was suffering and he became my closest friend; in time, he became my dearest lover and my spark-mate. The people who should have cared for him chose not to do so; and because of their cruelty, we both found love.

Punishing people doesn't fix anything. Pain is not a currency. Just as I am not entitled to cause pain to people who have done nothing to me because of the pain I suffered early in life, I do not have the right to decide that someone else must suffer a specific amount of pain because they caused pain to someone who is not me. The only rational response to evildoers is to make them work to repair things if they wish to remain a part of society, even if they cannot repair the specific things they broke.

Sometimes people who are determined to be destructive to others will choose not to stop until they are killed, and that is a choice that they make. We have the right to defend ourselves and one another, but locking people up, deciding to kill them, and then asking an innocent person to kill them is utterly barbaric, because killing the helpless at other people's orders corrupts the spark. (I have certain and personal knowledge of this.)

At any rate. Those who eat understand that everything but our sparks will be food for someone eventually. Those who kill understand that they are able to die.

Nobody owes the world pain. There is far too much pain in the world as it is.

I can't be the pacifist my spark-mate is, and that's why I'm his Protector and he is not mine. I know that violence is inherent in the world, and sometimes necessary, but I also know that being sapient one can choose not to inflict it when refraining would be the best choice.

Sacrificing your life to the violence of another solves nothing.

Those who are determined to be destructive will not be satisfied with the sacrifices of others. Those who are innocent should not add their pain to the sum of unwanted pain in the universe, and those who are guilty should not put an end to their pain and regret when they have so much work left to do to restore the world they helped break.