Cards Drawn: Disregard the Law and Be Honest
It’s funny how every time I pull out the Jedi Sextant, I find myself going more towards the wars of man and how the cards relate to these themes, than I do to the interpersonal struggles people can face when making decisions. I find that the people I admire the most, are those that are willing to stand up for what is right regardless of what it does to them. These two cards are not any different.
In the Jedi Compass we see that the card “Disregard the Law” seems to be in competition with the ethic “Honor the Law”, and incidentally in the Sextant deck “Honor the Law” is this card’s complete opposite. However, in looking at this particular ethic, we see that it is possible for there to be some room for disregarding the law- but what about being honest at the same time?
As Jedi we have to weigh what is and isn’t healthy for society. We have to be honest about what is and isn’t realistic. Taking the law into our own hands may or may not be feasible.
Let’s take an example of something I ask my students at Force Academy to consider:
you are in a situation where you need the aide of a local cartel which is heavily involved in human trafficking. Do you allow the modern day slavery to continue (in an area where it goes unchallenged by local authorities), and continue with the mission at hand? Or do you do something about the situation that you are witnessing, knowing that it would mean you would make a lifetime enemy of the cartel you are attacking? At what point do you see yourself as needing to overstep the law?
It’s such a difficult question. To honor the law, one that cannot be enforced either due to lack or resources or a corrupt police force, you would need to forsake a mission that may be of vital importance to someone else. If it’s a difference between stopping a larger terrorist operation, the answer may be a lot easier to justify in your mind to allow the trafficking to go unhindered. But if you’re mission is to protect a singular person, say a CEO of a large corporation, it may be a great deal harder to not feel the pain of leaving these people in the state that they are in. If you want to do anything about it, at the very least you have to make it appear that you have no care in the world for the people’s plight, so that if you go to an organization that specializes in liberating trafficked people, no one can trace the tip back to you- otherwise it puts you and the people that you were with in danger.
But to disregard the law…you would have to let it stand. It’s so horrifying to think of the problem in this way, isn’t it? But that’s where honesty has to take precedence in the decision. For me, when I see this scene, I see a lot of people that are being trafficked- and I’m in there knowing that the police know about it but haven’t been able to do anything for one reason or another. But then I have to consider- what can I realistically do? My personal training as a Military Police officer tells me exactly all the things I would need to coordinate an effort to save these people: I’m already the armed personnel needed, but I need a place where the victims will not become victims again. I need to know where I can deliver them to trained psychologists and a program that will help them find good work so they can learn to sustain themselves. I need a place that can provide them all shelter and meals. None of these are available to me in the immediate future. So, in this thought experiment, because I am being honest, I am forced to disregard the law...and instead, placing my faith in another organization’s efforts to liberate them.
It's important that we recognize we have limits, there are things we simply cannot do- and if we try to do something about it...we can make it worse. Be honest with yourself about what you're capabilities are. Push the bounds when it is reasonable and responsible, but know when it is a better option to not act at all.
Interesting note: I drew these cards yesterday, and according to the "Hawk & Tom Show" today is "National Honesty Day"! So why not make an effort today to notice all the times you're not honest with yourself? :)