As part of NJOE 3.0 we will be featuring various regular forum users in a variety of ways. Sometimes we will feature user reviews of books or other Star Wars items. Other times, we may do a ‘best of the forums’ column where we quote posts from various topics throughout our boards, calling attention to some topics that maybe not everyone is aware of. And another item might be a post that may make for a great editorial, one meant to generate responses on our board. This is one such case, posted by Jaina SoIo, called ‘Trapped? Thoughts on the Old Jedi Order…’ Click past the break for the full editorial, and click on the link to discuss on our message boards.

Trapped? Thoughts on the Old Jedi Order… by Jaina SoIo

Something that got me thinking the other day… Say you enroll a child in soccer, or theatre, or any extra-curricular activity. Said child enjoys it for a while, but soon tires of it and wants to move on to something else. What would you do? The answer is easy–take the child out of the program and put them in something else. If the child doesn’t want to stay in the program, you can’t force them to stay.

Not so with the Jedi. Surely there are some children in the Jedi Order who grow tired of training to be a Jedi, and yet a Jedi child simply can’t leave the Order. The Masters wouldn’t let them. Does anyone else think it’s unfair that the Jedi Order would take children away from their families and force them into a program that they did not choose for themselves? And if that child grows weary of Jedi training, they are not allowed to leave ever, for the rest of their lives? Doesn’t that seem a little… bleak? I suppose if you never know anything else other than the ways of being a Jedi it wouldn’t seem so bad, but there are millions of people who grow up in a certain religion, only to leave it on their own accord when they realize it isn’t for them. You’d think the same would happen with Jedi.

At least with Luke’s Order, it seems that people are given a choice whether they choose to train as a Jedi. But even with Luke’s Order, once you choose to train as a Jedi, you can’t back out. One would think that you can’t train someone to harness their abilities, only for them to back out and unleash their power against the galaxy. If they are going to train, they have to be committed to staying with the Order.  Seems like the decision to become a Jedi is a be-all-end-all decision, and it’s not fair for the OJO to force beings into service for them against their will. What happens to the Jedi who figure out that being a Jedi is not what they want in life? Where can they go after being taken away from their families for so many years?