Comrade... Do you think that the wardening here has taken a downward plunge in quality, since I graduated?
[Prefect's tone is slightly distant. The further back he thinks, the more blotches there are in his memory, but there are some things that don't go. Some things that are deeply rooted enough to weather this flood.]
When I was an inmate... one of the wardens shot an unarmed man in the leg, then attacked another inmate who was trying to administer medical care to him. There was no level zero, so inmates would be confined to their rooms indefinitely. I knew of one girl whose warden decided she was too dangerous to ever be let out. At one point, my own warden took away all of my belongings, my bed, my communicator, and then the electricity to my cabin.
[He's quiet for a moment, letting this sink in before he continues:]
So, Comrade, while I agree that there are people on this boat who are arrogant, and who are flawed, and who can't accept that they aren't better than the rest of us? I... can not accept that they are as big a problem as you think they are. Those people, whose actions and personalities grate on you, would still exist if they quit the barge and went to do some other job tomorrow, and you would stand as much chance of running into them out there as you do in here.
You can't only be here for the decent inmates, Brother. You've got to be here for the mad dogs, and the hotshots, and the ones who want the world to know how terrible they are, and all the wardens who come here, trying desperately to convince themselves and anyone else who's paying attention that they have any more of an idea than anyone else about how to save the soul of mass murderer from a world on the far side of the galaxy while trying to deal with having their identity picked apart over months and years. You've got to be here for the whole damn mess, Comrade. You've got too, because if you can't, then you really do have to find some way to say goodbye.
[This speech done, he pauses very briefly, then folds his arms over his chest, looking slightly insecure.]
And Comrade, I really, really hope that you can. Because I really don't want you to leave.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2012-07-18 12:30 am (UTC)[Prefect's tone is slightly distant. The further back he thinks, the more blotches there are in his memory, but there are some things that don't go. Some things that are deeply rooted enough to weather this flood.]
When I was an inmate... one of the wardens shot an unarmed man in the leg, then attacked another inmate who was trying to administer medical care to him. There was no level zero, so inmates would be confined to their rooms indefinitely. I knew of one girl whose warden decided she was too dangerous to ever be let out. At one point, my own warden took away all of my belongings, my bed, my communicator, and then the electricity to my cabin.
[He's quiet for a moment, letting this sink in before he continues:]
So, Comrade, while I agree that there are people on this boat who are arrogant, and who are flawed, and who can't accept that they aren't better than the rest of us? I... can not accept that they are as big a problem as you think they are. Those people, whose actions and personalities grate on you, would still exist if they quit the barge and went to do some other job tomorrow, and you would stand as much chance of running into them out there as you do in here.
You can't only be here for the decent inmates, Brother. You've got to be here for the mad dogs, and the hotshots, and the ones who want the world to know how terrible they are, and all the wardens who come here, trying desperately to convince themselves and anyone else who's paying attention that they have any more of an idea than anyone else about how to save the soul of mass murderer from a world on the far side of the galaxy while trying to deal with having their identity picked apart over months and years. You've got to be here for the whole damn mess, Comrade. You've got too, because if you can't, then you really do have to find some way to say goodbye.
[This speech done, he pauses very briefly, then folds his arms over his chest, looking slightly insecure.]
And Comrade, I really, really hope that you can. Because I really don't want you to leave.