Why is your cause your cause?

So, I had to pass up a few Accountablity meetings this week. They're starting a new campaign to declassify another block of records. I think it's really worthy, but I've been doing more drell rights stuff (Protest went fine, I guess. Too small. Not enough Compactees and Enkindled showed up). I feel like a jerk, because I still care, and people who only care about their own species suck.

I know a lot of people here are involved in various causes, or they work for particular organizations, or they identify as Sundowners or citizens of Eden Prime, or they're dedicated to the Alliance or the Hierarchy first. I'm asking...why did you decide to put your energy and your life into that thing.

I really don't hold a cause to my chest currently, aside from my wife's cooking. I formerly a human supremacist, but I've had a lot of life experiences that have pushed me away from that. I once believed humanity needs to stand tall and strong, higher than her contemporary peers and other races in the galaxy, when in reality.. We need to stand together. There are some things I'm still leaning towards, like better arming and equipment for human colonies, but it's small potatoes in comparison to the things I once believed.

Hm, you hold rallies and protests for drell rights? Hm, I'm not exactly a compactee, but I am Enkindled...

Ah, well why not? I might be interested in your organization... If you have a pamphlet or mission statement, you may send it to me [here].

Edit: Oh, right, causes... Well, my company has been working on ways to reduce cross contamination for viral infections by blocking their attack sites with inorganic compounds. If we can prevent inter-species infections and plagues, then by the depths I'll work myself to the bone to be a part of that.

Because I am good at it and like money.

Because an honest Society is a perfect Society. Without Jharkul's Teachings, Najhil would still be rotting in an Alley on Turvess.

Because I know I'm lucky. And that there are millions who aren't.

Because it works.

The protest was mostly organized by Compact Legal Defense with the local Temples and Churches contributing.


That doesn't really answer the question. There are like a million worthy causes.

I'm successful in an field where a majority of professionals will never have their names even remotely recognized, even by the most niche collector.

I'm happy, and I'm mostly healthy, despite all the shit I've been through in the past few years, where there are others who would break, who don't know what happiness is anymore, others who have issues with their mental/physical/spiritual health and need serious help to get better, if there's even a chance they can.

I'm lucky.

My causes are mine because I'm lucky, because I know I'm lucky, and I can look out the window of my apartment on the Citadel and realize that there are millions who can only dream of living a life like this, and I chose to do something about it.

There are a million worthy causes, yes, and I wish I could do something for every one of them. But as it is, I can't, and you didn't ask which ones I chose. Just why I chose them :p

Well I didn't, but I still say your answer is why "more you do something". Not that your causes aren't totally worthy. :P

I believe that there is such a thing as honest slavery, and its widespread acceptance could benefit the galaxy as a whole.

This one was presented with a choice, as were all beings who survived the great storm of the Reapers. These ones could flounder in the swell, lost and confused, or else move with purpose toward truth and enkindlement by embracing the pursuit of insight and understanding. This one has been exposed to the truth that immersion in the Many Voices reveals ever more sophisticated arguments for these one's place in the cosmos, and that it is through comparison and contrast of distinct racial perspectives that these ones achieve full illumination. Thus this one is pleased to commence its study of the galaxy and increase its spiritual awareness!

I could no more deny my cause than I could deny oxygen into my lungs.

There is a condition that universally afflicts us, prompting despondency and despair. This is called anhedonia: the sick soul. Relief is not solely achieved by salvation, and even others who have achieved salvation still might succumb to anhedonia. But to me, salvation was my saviour, drawing me up from the depths of melancholy and impressing upon me the numinous consciousness. I serve others so that I might serve God; that I might empower the former with the excellence that He has so generously bestowed upon us.

I cannot conceive of any other method of living.

At first I just wanted to bring people together on the Citadel. We were scattered, lonely.

I was lonely.

I wanted a place that felt like home. I was the first to start working there, so the others who came around looked to me. I got promoted to management and hired some of my associates. Then the Reaper business started, we needed a local militia, everyone was used to looking at me and I was used to war. It needed doing, so I did it.

I just felt that looking after my friends was the right thing to do. Some of them have the same background as me and some of them are, well, some of them are strays, other lonely people who were willing to work hard and keep their word for a family that would look after them.

Now they're my responsibility.

Murdered parents are real inspiriational. But you'd know that already, Kayana.

You probably don't want to see it, but you're as much a fanatic as I am; you're the one lucky enough to have had galactic validation, what with the Reapers an' all.

'Cause I don't know how to do anything else. Or fuck, maybe cause I can't. Doesn't much matter to me either way.

People seem to like to compare us. So.

Sicaria, that does not make us similar. My parents were killed by terrorist assholes who were sloppy with their explosives, by assholes who brought nothing but pain to their people, people who dragged their cause into the mud with their behavior.

I AM NOT LIKE YOU!

If I have a connection to anything in your life, it is to your victims so 1. Bite me and 2. Die from Anaphalaxis.

I joined the Alliance because I wanted to travel. I stayed because after Elysium, I believed that the Alliance was doing what needed to be done; not perfectly but still doing it. I still believe that.

In general the cause I keep to is keeping myself happy. If I can't manage that for myself, I doubt I can manage to help other people get there. When I'm actually doing some other cause, it's typically a temporary madness that will pass with time.

Why Eclipse? It's a good question, actually - you get a lot of people (temple-going people, mostly) asking 'why would you be a mercenary?' or 'why do you kill people for money?', but nobody ever really asks 'why that particular group?'

So, kudos kid, I guess.

The reason why I'm all Eclipse Forever and shit is because, after a whole bunch of shit went down, they came along and offered me the chance to keep on doing what I wanted to. More than that, they respect me for all the reasons I'm never allowed back on Thessia. Tides, they even gave me a pay rise. What more could you want?