(Enjoy more fictional jobs to be thankful aren't yours this Thanksgiving weekend -- Click the links to read Least Envied Fictional Job #2, #3, #4, #5, and check out Matt’s list on the same topic on his blog)
Do you dream of making the galaxy a safer-
Ah, who are we kidding? If you’re old enough to read this and haven’t already been pried out of your parents’ conflicted, irresponsible or dead arms and whisked away for from-the-ground-up psychological conditioning, you’re not going to be a Jedi.
Do you dream of making the galaxy a safer-
Ah, who are we kidding? If you’re old enough to read this and haven’t already been pried out of your parents’ conflicted, irresponsible or dead arms and whisked away for from-the-ground-up psychological conditioning, you’re not going to be a Jedi.
The exception, not the rule.
Unlike the rest of the fictional jobs on this list, Jedi is one that plenty of real life kids have wished they could be when they grew up. At a glance, it’s easy to see why. You get a lightsaber and superpowers, and the work itself is fighting bad guys. Sounds pretty satisfying. So why does it top the list?
First, the obvious.
First, the obvious.
Celibacy.
No, wait, let’s come back to that. For now, let’s pretend you’re a married-to-the-job type anyway, or you’re living in one of the more enlightened periods of the Expanded Universe where the Jedi have realized that having families doesn’t seem to be driving the exempt, endangered species members to the dark side, but having to hide one and never ask for help might just have something to do with Anakin’s issues.
That leaves you working for a rigidly structured hierarchy of other superpowered married-to-the-job types who tend not to take input from next-gen members too easily, and every so often someone in the system goes bad and applies those superpowers to a vendetta against the stodgy but mostly good guys.
No, wait, let’s come back to that. For now, let’s pretend you’re a married-to-the-job type anyway, or you’re living in one of the more enlightened periods of the Expanded Universe where the Jedi have realized that having families doesn’t seem to be driving the exempt, endangered species members to the dark side, but having to hide one and never ask for help might just have something to do with Anakin’s issues.
That leaves you working for a rigidly structured hierarchy of other superpowered married-to-the-job types who tend not to take input from next-gen members too easily, and every so often someone in the system goes bad and applies those superpowers to a vendetta against the stodgy but mostly good guys.
Well, the job is about fighting bad guys, right? Can’t shy away from that because the bad guys get as powerful as you are. And every job has a hierarchy, right?
But not every job involves superpowers that include telepathy. This brings us back to the celibacy thing. Even if you’re allowed to have sex, that’s not what the restriction is really about. It’s about attachment, about feeling, about anything that makes you human (or whatever species you happen to be). And those ideals, about being a Jedi first and a person second (if at all), don’t go away.
This is the Jedi’s not entirely successful method for preventing those problems than come with imperfect beings having dangerous superpowers. And while there are holes in the system wherever it might be better for there not to be holes...
But not every job involves superpowers that include telepathy. This brings us back to the celibacy thing. Even if you’re allowed to have sex, that’s not what the restriction is really about. It’s about attachment, about feeling, about anything that makes you human (or whatever species you happen to be). And those ideals, about being a Jedi first and a person second (if at all), don’t go away.
This is the Jedi’s not entirely successful method for preventing those problems than come with imperfect beings having dangerous superpowers. And while there are holes in the system wherever it might be better for there not to be holes...
The rest of the time, telepathy allows them to enforce their method to greater and more disturbing depths than any real life religious order.
You think it’s annoying when your boss monitors your internet usage at the office? As a Jedi, your thoughts are monitored, so the boss can helpfully remind you to be mindful of them.
You think it’s annoying when your boss monitors your internet usage at the office? As a Jedi, your thoughts are monitored, so the boss can helpfully remind you to be mindful of them.
Pictured: Something more invasive than sleeping in your parents' room until an inappropriate age.
Still interested? Still so keen to devote your life to goodness and the light side of the Force that even the most private workings of your mind will be fit for inspection by the like-minded? Woah there, you’re way too eager! Get ready for a life of being told to slow down and avoid rash, easy decisions to the point of allowing evil dictators to rise under an attitude of non-interference that makes the Prime Directive seem laidback.
