Now see, if you'd just left it at that ranting old timer comment you might have gotten off easy. But 'cute' is begging me to find out if I still know all the words of the Quartet.
...
I'd like to say a job well done is its own reward, but that's a lie. Of course I was ecsatic when I kept Nick's ship flying, and that high was more intense than the knowing in abstract that some of what I've helped design has indirectly contributed to death. And no, that's not fair. But if any universe were fair, drunk men wouldn't be able to get behind the wheel to hit vehicles carrying nine year olds who aren't wearing seatbelts.
[she knows, logically, he didn't intend to hit that very specific nerve. But there's a point when even she can't be wholly logical]
If I'd just had a mundane IT job, I might not have contributed to anyone's death, but I also wouldn't have saved the lives of eighty people or seen things that made me believe it was possible that anyone could just give me my legs back in an instant. And if I wallowed in every horrible thing that's touched me, I wouldn't have even gone to college. That's not saying it's easy to do, or that I always pull it off. But the responsibilty for what my work has been used for rests far more heavily on people far further up the chain of command, and I can't take the blame for their decisions anymore than my parents should have taken the blame for the man in that other car.
I guess saying I care but I can't afford to care too much is something of a cop out, but it's also true.
no subject
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I'd like to say a job well done is its own reward, but that's a lie. Of course I was ecsatic when I kept Nick's ship flying, and that high was more intense than the knowing in abstract that some of what I've helped design has indirectly contributed to death. And no, that's not fair. But if any universe were fair, drunk men wouldn't be able to get behind the wheel to hit vehicles carrying nine year olds who aren't wearing seatbelts.
[she knows, logically, he didn't intend to hit that very specific nerve. But there's a point when even she can't be wholly logical]
If I'd just had a mundane IT job, I might not have contributed to anyone's death, but I also wouldn't have saved the lives of eighty people or seen things that made me believe it was possible that anyone could just give me my legs back in an instant. And if I wallowed in every horrible thing that's touched me, I wouldn't have even gone to college. That's not saying it's easy to do, or that I always pull it off. But the responsibilty for what my work has been used for rests far more heavily on people far further up the chain of command, and I can't take the blame for their decisions anymore than my parents should have taken the blame for the man in that other car.
I guess saying I care but I can't afford to care too much is something of a cop out, but it's also true.