041. [Text]

[explosivecombat]

It's been a little while since I last spoke to the lot of you; a fair amount has happened since then, hasn't it? I'm not just referring to the local conquests – both for the better and for the worse, merely attempted or otherwise – nor am I referring to anything that may have been cast down to us from on high, simply because this place believes that we deserve a bit of kindness from time to time. I refer instead to personal achievements we may have made in the last few months – things that may seem insignificant in the scheme of things, but regardless are all the better simply because they were achieved.

Where I'm from, some of us were granted acknowledgement of our power to change the world; I say everyone holds this power for themselves. Perhaps not everyone realizes it; perhaps not everyone understands exactly how little it takes to influence fate in such a way. I've spoken on this sort of topic before, with emphasis on how this place has changed you; I'm curious to know what the rest of you have done to ensure that Equivalent Exchange is adhered to. You can't exist in this world without leaving some sort of mark on it, because that's the way of things; regardless of how important you believe the mark you've left to be, I'd like to hear about it.

It can be something simple; perhaps you won a badge recently, perhaps you encouraged some sort of creation you're particularly proud of with regards to breeding and egg moves. Small achievements are so often overlooked in this world that it's difficult to recall sometimes that they're achievements at all. Perhaps you've had a personal revelation; perhaps you've improved yourself recently in a way that isn't obvious to anyone but you. That counts as well.

On the other hand, perhaps you've managed something far larger for yourself; I'm curious to hear about how that's going, too, should you be willing to tell me. (In other words – yes, Lieutenant Blake and the leader of the future Cobra Empire, you're both welcome to boast in my direction should you desire to; I won't be offended if you don't.)

Now is normally when I offer some sort of thought experiment, and apologize for how morbid I'm choosing to be; none of that is forthcoming today. We're leading into a season filled with great significance for me – one that centers around changing the world and changing oneself, in recognizing challenges and yet cleaving to our ability as people to adapt and overcome. It's a very positive time, one in which our personal glory should be celebrated. As such, I'll leave you with another quote instead that I believes sums up my mood today far better:

"You have overcome yourself, so why do you show yourself to me as the one who has been overcome? I want to see the victorious – cast roses into the abyss, and say: 'Here is my thanks to the monster who didn't succeed in swallowing me alive.'"

Comments

[lieutenantantichrist]

[That's concrete enough that it makes sense to somebody with as little imagination as Blake. He sees a hole, though.]

There's people who get back less, yeah, but what about the people who put in blood, sweat, and tears and get nothing? I've seen plenty of those back home.

[explosivecombat]

Can you give me an example, if you don't mind? Just for understanding's sake.

[lieutenantantichrist]

[There's plenty of examples to choose from.] Like this one guy. Good cop, real dedicated. This case comes up, a girl's body tossed in a dumpster. He gives everything to this case, all his time, everything he's got, wrecks his marriage. Never makes an arrest. Whoever did it is out there, free as a bird.

Or, here's another one that comes up all the time. Somebody pushing 90 gets a call from somebody claiming to be their grandkid, saying they're in trouble and need to get bailed out. By the end of the day, grandma hands her life savings over to a scammer. Where's their exchange?

[explosivecombat]

Ah...I think you're confusing the principle of Equivalent Exchange with the concept of universal morality, or perhaps karmic justice. To assume that the forces of the world will always default in your favor is actually exceedingly arrogant.

In your first example, your good cop sacrificed his marriage in order to have the time and mental resources to pursue what he wanted. Isn't that an exchange in and of itself? The fact that he didn't receive what he wanted is irrelevant; he sacrificed time and resources so he could have time and resources to place elsewhere. The exchange exists, and according to the laws of the world, it was entirely fair. Likewise, the culprit in that case presumably put some effort toward not being discovered, and there was an exchange there as well, given that that person ultimately was not. Perhaps luck was also on his or her side; I don't know. Sometimes people are favored like that simply because they chose to act. But just the same, you can't say that an exchange didn't take place, because on both sides of the equation, there certainly was one. It just didn't have the sort of outcome you'd like - but why should the forces of the world take human happiness into account? All that matters is that balance is preserved.

In your second example...as far as I can tell, as the world is concerned there would be no error to be corrected? Again, Equivalent Exchange has nothing to do with any sort of inherent justice, because to do so would impede on one's free will. If you're going to grant humanity complete agency, you have to accept that they'll use that agency in ways you won't always like or approve of. Is conning someone in such a way at all morally right? Of course it isn't. But there isn't a way to resolve that situation in a way that doesn't involve removing the agency of either the scammer or the old woman. As far as the laws governing the world are concerned - not the moral laws, mind you, as those are subjective and defined by humanity, but the inherent natural laws - that transaction was fair given that it was orchestrated by two individuals of their own free will, mistaken premise or otherwise.

Equivalent Exchange doesn't always mean getting what you want, Lieutenant Blake, and it doesn't always mean getting what you believe to be fair.

[lieutenantantichrist]

[Now this is starting to get on Blake's nerves. It all strikes him as fucked up and wrong, so he has to try to put a name to it.]

That's bullshit.

[Besides that one.]

What about the kinds of brats who never work a day in their life and get everything handed to them? What about the nutcases who go around planting bombs in movie theaters for no damn reason? Hell, what about goddamn cancer? Nobody trades anything for that. Where's your balance there?

[explosivecombat]

Again, there's nothing to be corrected.

There's a difference between balance and fairness. I don't know how to put it in more explicit terms than that.

[lieutenantantichrist]

You're saying it's more like a physics thing. So as long as action makes reaction, everything's okay. All's right with the world.

[explosivecombat]

Yes. It's very easy to fall into the trap of seeking some sort of reason that bad things happen to good people - particularly, a reason that that doesn't involve the notion that bad things happen to good people because someone else decided they should, or sometimes because a number of factors worked out that way. But justice and moral law are purely human constructs, and as such it's on humanity to uphold such notions.

I've seen what happens when those constructs fail, so I'll thank you to not assume that I haven't - it seems it's likewise very easy for you to dismiss what I do simply because of the method by which I do it, and I do hope that you don't treat the soldiers in your country with such flippant disrespect and operate under the assumption that they have no idea what suffering looks like.

[lieutenantantichrist]

That's not what I meant. I know soldiers see shit.

I just don't see the point of claiming there's some cosmic balance to the universe if it doesn't do anybody any good.

Hell, that's what cops are for. Punishing the bad guys, because whatever the hippies tell you, karma sure as shit isn't going to get the job done. You have to do it yourself.

[Something about the way Kimblee talks strikes him.]

You're a lot more philisophical about this kind of thing than the guys at the front line usually are.

[explosivecombat]

I'd agree with you if we were discussing anything even vaguely related to karma. There's no way for me to be more direct than I have been about the fact that we aren't; you're the one who keeps making it about morality and justice, not me.

Ah, but you aren't the first to comment about the way I speak about such things...I've always been told I'm a bit unusual like that. I compartmentalize things a bit more strictly than most, that's all.

[lieutenantantichrist]

Justice, balance, same thing.

[Getting Blake to talk about these things at all is unusual. Normally he'd just say "bullshit" and wander off before he had to think too hard. Something about this guy tends to needle him just enough to make him engage.]

I've met plenty of guys who've done their share of shooting or getting shot at, one way or another. They either brag or they don't talk about it. Either way, they take it a lot more personally than you.