This comment section makes it so clear that not enough people are aware of restorative justice. Rotting in hell is not the only punishment, and neither is it the best one.
Believe it or not, people are allowed to change. They’re allowed to hit rock bottom and then try to do better. No it cannot erase what bad they did, but preventing them from doing good only increases the net bad in the world. And if we punish those who are trying to turn their lives around, fewer individuals have incentive to be a better person.
Lydia understands the weight of her previous actions. She carries that guilt and grief every day. If she had given up and drowned in that hopelessness, believing she was a fundamentally broken person unable to do good, then Lyrica would still be in the slums and Alterres would never know love and so many people in the opera house would have died. Her belief that she is capable of change DID change the world.
I prefer characters who are not fundamentally good or evil, because people aren’t either. And I do have mixed feelings about Lydia (perpetrator) but IMO past-life Lyrica (victim) would be happy with how her mom has redeemed herself. That’s enough for me to believe justice has been achieved.
This comment section makes it so clear that not enough people are aware of restorative justice. Rotting in hell is not the only punishment, and neither is it the best one.
Believe it or not, people are allowed to change. They’re allowed to hit rock bottom and then try to do better. No it cannot erase what bad they did, but preventing them from doing good only increases the net bad in the world. And if we punish those who are trying to turn their lives around, fewer individuals have incentive to be a better person.
Lydia understands the weight of her previous actions. She carries that guilt and grief every day. If she had given up and drowned in that hopelessness, believing she was a fundamentally broken person unable to do good, then Lyrica would still be in the slums and Alterres would never know love and so many people in the opera house would have died. Her belief that she is capable of change DID change the world.
I prefer characters who are not fundamentally good or evil, because people aren’t either. And I do have mixed feelings about Lydia (perpetrator) but IMO past-life Lyrica (victim) would be happy with how her mom has redeemed herself. That’s enough for me to believe justice has been achieved.