They "graduated" from being "taught" by a Pax Humanis member, to being in a cell on a prison station run by the Alliance and going through therapy. They still screamed in their sleep and woke up gasping, while clinging to their pillow and wanting the lights left on.
@internutter/challenge-03932-j280-a-drop-in-the-bucket -- Anon Guest
How far is too far? How ethical is it to torture someone who once spent people like people spent tissue paper, before the Shattering. How wise is it to keep killers and abusers on the payrolls of an organisation called the Cogniscent Rights Committee?
I don't have easy answers. I'm starting to wonder if there are any.
Don't get me wrong. Most people can be taught. Most people are willing to learn without the threat of punishment looming over their shoulder. Most people can change how they interact with others. Pax Humanis is for the people unlike most people. The people who combine willful ignorance and a casual disregard for their fellow cogniscents.
The larger portion of the Alliance thinks that Pax Humanis exists for the Deregger CEO's. Many of them are candidates for that kind of intervention.
There's plenty like that in the Alliance, too. Unfortunately.
Like I said. Most people can learn. Most people accept the bill of Cogniscent Rights and Responsibilities without having to be forced.
Pax Humanis exists for the statistical outliers. The ones who refuse to class a species as cogniscent... or do the same to an ethnic group. The ones who think there are loopholes in the law. The ones who believe they are too special to obey the law.
We've got them on our list. We do not miss.
Most criminals are redeemed with a successful intervention. Some require remedial education and therapy.
Then there's people like Adan Fizdanrom, who repeatedly spent children's lives on cleaning air ducts. Because Cleaners were too expensive, and paying adults was allegedly beyond his budget.
Sometimes, he would buy fluffy havenworlders to 'collect' the grime.
We recognise that the need to punish a wrongdoer is an old moral standard from a bygone age... but some people need to pay for their sins.
Thanks to the actions of Pax Humanis, Mr Fizdanrom knows better. He recites the basic tenets in order to calm down.
"People are not things. Any cogniscent being is a person. Children also count as cogniscent beings, even if they aren't mature enough to be fully cogniscent[1]," he mumbled, rocking back and forth. "Every cogniscent needs a balance between work, self-care, and leisure."
"Mr Fizdanrom?"
He recognised me as friendly. A large leap forward from two weeks ago, when he viewed anyone approaching as a threat. "I have to remember," he said. "I have to remember the real things. If I remember... they won't come back."
"That is technically correct," I soothed. "I believe that your former... educator... does not repeat their performances. I'd like to talk to you about your behaviour during lights-out."
"I don't like the dark. I'd drown in the dark. I can feel the water... coming up... There was no room to sit in that closet. There was just enough room to swim... until the air was all gone and I drowned in the dark and then... I'd drown in the air again."
"Yes. We know. We're going to keep the lights on for you from now on. For the comfort of other patients, I need to discuss how dim those lights can get before you feel unsafe." There was one patient who'd been held in relentless flourescent lighting for an unspecified time. They had to wear sunglasses when confronting bright lights.
"I can... I can have dim light. I need to see... I need to see if the water's coming."
I will get them back to normalcy. One coping mechanism at a time.
[1] To summarize: Sentience is an awareness of one's surroundings. Cogniscence is an awareness of consequences.
[Photo by The Creativv on Unsplash]
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