Choosing sides...

After reading some pretty heated arguments on the DRC forums about Douglas Sharper's actions, I realized something: we're not all that different from the Bahro.

Consider this:

Suppose someone does something really horribly atrocious to you or to your group of friends. When it's all over, you have two options; you can seek revenge, or you can pick up the pieces of your life and try to carry on. By seeking revenge, you could, perhaps, go to the person's home who did this to you and beat them up. Or, if that person isn't there, you can find someone who looks alot like them and beat them up.

Now; the question is, is this story the Bahro's? Or ours?

We had something truly horrible happen to one of our explorers; she was killed by a Bahro. Sharper, of course, decided to take the path of revenge and went to Nobolen and attempted to kill the one that killed her... or one that looked just like him.

However, this story is also the Bahro's. They were imprisoned against their will for countless centuries. When they were finally freed, they also had the choice between revenge and forgiveness. Those that chose revenge went to their enemy's home (D'ni) and attacked... and we don't know that they realize that we're a separate race (after all, some of have some D'ni characteristics: pale eyes and skin). Perhaps, to them, we look like the D'ni as much as the "good" Bahro look like the "bad" Bahro.

The death of one explorer has us sniping in the forums, and some of the worst flaming that I've seen since the Liaison elections. What would the emotional toil of centuries of slavery be for us? Would it split us into chaotic civil war?

I don't think the Bahro really chose between "good" and "evil"; I think they had to choose between retaliation and forgiveness.

And so do we.