explosivecombat | 031. [Text]

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031. [Text]

You know, I've realized that whenever I address the network nowadays, I always include some sort of apology for the morbidity of the subject matter; the subject matter is never any better the next time around, which I think just draws the validity of the apology into question by now. Ah, but that's neither here nor there - the subject today is still, however, not any better, so consider the apology this afternoon as genuine as it always is.

[In other words, sorry-not-sorry. Kimblee...]

I would like to discuss morality today, actually - perhaps befittingly, since there are so many morally dubious individuals around as of late.

Assume for a moment that you come across someone in peril; you're in a secluded area, and no one else is around to help this individual but you. The specific sort of peril they're in doesn't matter, but for the sake of argument, assume that it's something that you can handle easily - assume that assisting them won't kill you, and even if the situation you envision is dangerous you can call the authorities for help and that would be considered "assisting" for the sake of this experiment. For whatever reason, the person in peril cannot save themselves; if you don't do anything, the situation will prove fatal for the person you've come across.

No one will know if you help the person or not. You won't be punished or penalized in any way for not helping them - in other words, you have no legal obligation to do so - but if you don't, the person in peril is going to die. You've never met the person before this moment; there's nothing about their appearance or situation that implies that you should consider them an enemy, but they aren't explicitly a friend or an ally either. Just a random stranger that you are given the option of rescuing.

Most would probably agree that rescuing a person in peril like that is the "right" thing to do; I'm sure some would disagree, either because their beliefs are a bit unorthodox or because they want to feel edgy. So my question isn't necessarily what you believe - my question is why. Can you justify it, or are you just operating under "what feels right"?

Answer me anonymously if you'd like; as usual, your identity doesn't necessarily interest me, but your answer does.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I see...we don't have a bloodline-based monarchy where we're from, it's decided through a military-based hierarchy.

[...Sort of. That's what we tell everyone, anyway; who knows what they're doing now.]

It's nothing I've ever aspired toward, anyway, even though I suppose technically I could have.

You aren't from London, by any chance, are you?

[So he understood, like, a quarter of what you just said, Kimblee. STILL, MOVING ON.

There are more pressing matters to attend to here, such as:]

...London? ...I've never heard of that before.

[What's a London.]

So you're from one of those worlds where it doesn't exist, then.

So am I - don't let it concern you too much.

[Well now Jimmy's going to be forever wondering what the heck a London is.]

Yeah, I guesso. ...but if it's not where you're from either, then how do you know about it?

It's a city that a few people here came from, back in their world. Apparently most people here know about it - most of the "foreigners", anyway.

There's one world in particular that seems to have many variations, and most people are from that place. All of those worlds seem to have cities in common (London, Tokyo, San Francisco, and Philadelphia are the first ones to come to mind), and several countries as well (France, Russia, Germany, England, Japan and several others - London is located in England, for reference).

I'm from somewhere else entirely, however.

Woow....that's pretty cool. Whatever that world is, it must be really big, like this one.

So where are you from, then?

That world is much, much larger than this one, actually - a friend of mine is from there, and she says this world seems confining due to its size. Or lack thereof, I suppose.

I'm from a country called Amestris; I doubt you've heard of it. Most people haven't, unless they're from there.

Wow, seriously? I can't imagine how big it must be, then. This place here is already big on it's own.

Ahh no I'm sorry, can't say that I have.

Don't let it concern you; as I've said, most people haven't.

It's not much like this place, at any rate. We have Central City, which is rather large and where our primary military headquarters is, and it's also where our ruler resides; otherwise it's divided into four regions - North, South, East and West - with a major city in each region containing a secondary headquarters and recruitment building. Otherwise, a fair amount of it is rural; we specialize in farming and coal, basically.

I'm from North City originally, though I've been all over the country on various tours of duty with the military; I've only been outside our borders once - it was for business, not pleasure, and I was there for a very short period of time. Leaving the country isn't something done easily, and I've never been outside of it otherwise.

[Jimmy absorbs all of the information with a will, as if he weren't eager enough to learn about all the people who have been sucked into the Pokemon world like him.]

So I guess suddenly ending up here wasn't exactly on your list of things you wanted to do...

Do you like it here ok, otherwise?

[There's a pause before he replies; it's odd that he has to actually think about it, though it's nothing worth dwelling on as far as he's concerned.]

I've been granted many opportunities that I wouldn't have received back home, and this place is interesting enough. The quality of life here is objectively better than it was in Amestris, and circumstances there have ensured that I don't want to return anytime soon besides.

So I can't complain, really.

I can't say that this place is better than Miseryville-

[If he forgot to mention it, yes, that is what it's called.]

but I really like it here so far! I've met a whole ton of new friends, at least.

"Miseryville." Well, from what you've described, it's certainly apt - that's almost cute.

[KIMBLEE I'M PRETTY SURE THAT'S NOT - ...okay, fine, you do that.]

[You'd be surprised. The place is....definitely actually not quite as horrible as it seems. Honestly, Jimmy's being there is a big part of that.]

Uh huh! It's a really great place, in spite of what I said earlier...I do kinda miss it, but I haven't really even been here for all that long yet.

Well, that's common, I think. Again, this place is objectively better than Amestris in several ways, but Amestris is my country. It's familiar to me in ways this place will never be.

[...]

People keep telling me I won't be able to go home for a long time. Is that true?

Perhaps, perhaps not.

What they mean is more likely that it's not up to us to decide. Sometimes we go home, but it's not because we chose to. This world will send you home when it feels like it - sometimes that's a long time, sometimes it isn't.

...So it's kinda like...how sometimes if you go to sleep here you might just....go home for no reason?

Something like that.

I've gone home once myself; several people I've known have as well. Some of us came back; some of us didn't stay here after we came back. It's a bit of a random-seeming process.

I see...well, like I told someone else, I guess I might as well enjoy my time here while I can, if I don't know when I'll be going home.

I've been here for two and a half years, for what it's worth.

Gosh.....that's a long time. And you said you went home and...came back?

Yes. I was gone for about six weeks - so not very long at all, in the scheme of things. That was last year, in April.

Edited (html more like fml) 2014-03-05 04:06 (UTC)

Guess you really don't know what's gonna happen till it happens, then. Might as well not worry about it too much!

More or less.

It's more difficult when it happens to your friends, apparently.

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