I took the boyz to a talk by my mentor - the man has done a lot for me, and desite our being rather different souls, a fact which he assures me he rejects. So we go. It turns out it's a right to life debate (sigh, hate hate these, they're the WWF of academic debates).

A thought experiment: you wake in a hospital bed having been kidnapped and hooked up to a one-of-a-kind musical genius dude, whose kidneys are failing so he needs to borrow yours for a day while he waits for a transplant. His fans have kidnapped you, he's in a coma, it's not his fault, will you agree to help filter his blood for a day at no great harm to yourself? Again today, I feel my blood rise and I think "I'm sorry, but I already know what I'm supposed to agree to think, and I'm just not playing", and I settle back to wait the hour out and hug him and leave. I simply don't care enough to fight. But then. He points to the air behind me, and TJ's voice pipes up from the backrow where he was supposed to be reading his book. TJ says, NO, and not only because nobody had a right to kidnap him, but to agree to such a thing would make the world a place where you might get kidnapped and then be guilted into going along with it, PLUS the dude will probably wake up and feel bad. The prof agrees in that way that says "yes yes you're right but you just don't understand", and he refers to TJ as a "she" who has a good point. I glance back, TJ looks very quiet very composed and like he could shoot to kill no problemo. The prof then goes on to make an analogy to a fetus as a result of a rape. Of course he does. But TJ didn't agree in the first place to the whole musical genius thing, so he's hardly primed to agree to play with the fetus. He raises his hand again (he's 10 - this is a lecture hall full of adults) and suggests it's a false analogy, becasue among other reasons, the fetus is just a kid and not some old musician who probably has lived plenty already. The prof says in his thunderous prof tone, "In some cultures, old people are valued MORE for their WISDOM than youth is for its potential" and everyone laughs. TJ waits for the tittering to stop, says simply, "But not in this culture." He's not being a smart ass, that's simply true, not in this culture. The talk goes on, I am tempted to get involved in the debate, but the emeritus professor is my mentor truly and loves me and his look says "Don't" so I don't. When it's over, TJ hands me a napkin from the pizza buffet on which he's written 4 questions, and he wishes me to give this note to the professor. It reads on one side:

1. If there is no sense of obligation, why would anyone help anyone else?
2. If there is no law but you feel like there is one and feel like you have to do something, what's the difference?
3. Is anyone worth any more? Like a musician?
4. I am C--, son of G--

on the other side it reads:

Please
1. Answer here:
2. Answer here:
3. Answer here:
4. You can apologize for calling me a girl here: