A few blocks away, Lisa was eating dinner with Maria and Diego. As usual, they discuseed work and school, and inconsequential things like the weather. At some point Lisa said, "Do you mind if we talk about my grounding?"
Diego said, "What's to talk about? I thought it was settled. You haven't broken it, have you?"
"No dad," Lisa said. "I've stuck to it."
Maria said, "If Lisa thinks there's something to discuss about it, let's hear her out."
"Oh, certainly," Diego said. "Lisa, what's on your mind?"
"When you grounded us, Mom said that the purpose was to make both Ty and me reflect on things. I've already spent a lot of time thinking about what we did. You said that because it was Ty who used his power to do the transformation, that it was his responsibility, even though it was a transformation I asked for. But you also said that I should think about my responsibility to Ty. I know it's only been a few days, but I've spent a lot of time thinking about that. It's been on my mind so much, in fact, that I've had a hard time thinking about anything else, including everything else I'm supposed to think about, like school.
"As I've thought about it more and more, I've realized that, even though you didn't make any rule about it, that my responsibility to Ty is just as serious as his responsibility to me, and those rules. It was bad enough that I suggested something careless, but when he didn't want to do it, I put more pressure on him until he caved in and did it. You've said that it's his responsibility, and I don't disagree, but I believe that I'm still at fault. Before you suggested it to me, I hadn't actually considered that I had any responsibility to Ty, since there wasn't any rule about that. But now I do see that I have a huge responsibility to him, to help him shoulder his responsibility, and not to undermine that or be a burden to him. I completely failed at that. I already apologized to him for pressuring him into doing the transform, but I want to talk to him about it more, and explain to him my new understanding about _my_ responsibility.
"And although I haven't spoken to him, I'm absolutely certain that Ty has spent a lot of time thinking about his responsibility. When I tried to take some of the blame for what happened, he didn't let me. He already fully understood that the responsibility was his. And furthermore, when I tried to convince him not to agree to the grounding, which I'm now ashamed to have done, he refused my suggestion, and insisted on accepting the consequences. So although I'm sure that he, too, has now spent a lot of time reflecting on what happened, I think I'm really the one who needed that time. He already understood, far better than I did.
"Diego, you said that it was hard to remember how long a week was when you were young. And Maria, thank you for convincing Diego to make it only a week. But I'm going to request that you cut the grounding short now. You said the purpose wasn't punishment, but to give us time to reflect. I'm going to suggest that we've had enough of that time to reflect, and the rest of the week really will just be punishment.
"But regardless of whether you agree with me on that. I want to discuss the rule involved, that Ty will not harm Lisa. Ty agreed to that rule, and he admitted breaking the rule, and he accepted the consequences. But I want to argue that perhaps the rule is too strict, or that there should be a loophole.
"As I said before, neither of us expected the transformation to hurt me. But we admitted that it did. But as soon as Ty was aware that he'd hurt me, he did everything in his power to set things right, to undo the harm, as quickly as possible. He literally moved the heavens and the earth, forcing them to his will, to undo the harm. Given that the harm had already been done, I don't think anyone could conceivably fault Ty for any aspect of the corrective actions he undertook.
"Now suppose you have a valuable posession, and I, in my clumsiness, knock it over, and damage it. I have damaged the item, and thereby I have harmed you. If I repair the object, even making it as good as new, it's still true that I damaged the item and harmed you, but I have undone the damage to the item. The item is intact again. If there is to be a penalty imposed for the damage to the item, and the harm to you, perhaps there shouldn't be as much penalty for the damage to the item, as there would be if I just allowed it to remain broken.
"Now I know that you already considered what Ty had done to solve the problem as a mitigating consideration when deciding the consequences. But I want to suggest that the rule itself is too strict. It doesn't consider the magnitude of the harm, or any subsequent remediation. i think maybe it should."
Diego said, "I can see that you really have thought about this a lot, and I am glad to hear that. But Maria and I have thought about it a lot also, culminating in our decision to ground you for a week. I don't think any of your arguments influence my thinking about the duration of the grounding, though Maria and I will discuss it later." Maria nodded in agreement.
Diego continued. "Although you are right, that we did say that the purpose of the grounding was to give both of you time to reflect, that doesn't mean that once you, or we, decide that you've reflected enough, that any change to the term of the grounding is warranted.
"Finally, to address your suggestion that the rule is too strict. That is by intent. The rule is that Ty must never harm Lisa, and Maria and I are NEVER going to change that. But despite being strict, the rule is also vague. What if you are together, and Ty buys himself a soda, but refuses to share it with you or buy you one? Has he harmed you? Perhaps no reasonable person would say that he had, but in as broad an interpretation of 'harm' as we can imagine, he has. The rule does not specify the interpretation of harm, and if it tried to, we could end up with thousands of words on the subject, for which we would inevitably still find cases we'd want additional exceptions for.
"As you say, the rule doesn't take into account any subsequent remediation. This, too, is actually deliberate. As with the definition of harm, we couldn't possibly write a rule to cover remediation, that would adequately and satisfactorily cover the cases likely to arise.
"For these reasons, it is left up to the authority interpreting the rule, in this case, your parents, to try to take these factors into account, to make the administration of the rule, and any consequences of its violation, as fair as possible.
"Now I know that you may disagree with us on the specifics of what is fair, but I assure you that Maria and I did take into account every consideration you have just put forward, except the idea that you might think you've already done enough reflection, which I spoke about a moment ago." Maria nodded again.
"Now I'm happy that you brought these things up, as it does show us how much you've been thinking about these matters. We do take your concerns seriously, so Maria and I will have another talk, but I warn you that I think it's very unlikely that we will change anything.
"However, if Maria agrees, I do want to make one small change to the grounding." Maria looked a bit surprised. "If Maria agrees, and you want us to do it, I think we should invite Ty over here to join us for dinner tomorrow night, in case he wants to discuss any of this with us. You will not be given any time alone together, and after dinner, Ty will go home. Is that OK with you, Maria?"
"Yes," Maria said. "I think that is an excellent idea."
"Lisa, do you want us to invite him?"
Lisa was torn, because she did desperately want to see Ty, but would only seeing him chaperonesd make her desire for him even worse? But she couldn't turn the opportunity down. "Yes, please invite him! Thank you!"
"I'll call June after we're through with dinner," Maria said.