For me the most amazing thing about "Episode III" is the dramatic change that occurs in Anakin. When Palpatine reveals himself to be the Sith Lord, Anakin is ready to tear him down. Suddenly the bond they created means nothing and his thoughts of saving Padme take a back seat to making sure this evildoer is put to rest.

Then, with a few cunning words from Palpatine, Anakin decides the best choice is to inform Master Windu and let the Jedi properly arrest the Republic leader.

However, very shortly afterward, Anakin does a turn about. Whether Palpatine was communicating with him in the Force, or Anakin was simply replaying words in his mind, Anakin's anxieties about losing Padme caused him to hastily race to the ruler's rescue to make certain he would not be killed in the process of the arrest.

It may be impossible to apply United States laws to a GFFA, but if all things were equal, certainly Windu was in his rights to kill Palpatine at the point where Anakin walks into the room. It would be an obvious case of self defense. It's hard to believe that the bodies of the dead Jedi had been neatly carried off at this point, Anakin had to know something was up. Nevertheless, his fear made the decision for him and before he knew what he was doing he helped Palpatine dispatch Mace Windu.

Unfortunately Windu's relationship with Anakin didn't get the "press" that Anakin's friendship with Palpatine does, but it stands to reason that it was there. We see Yoda teaching very young Jedi, certainly Windu did the same thing. Mace may have been with Anakin as he went through the typical childhood illnesses, missed his mother, entered puberty, and all of the other things that go with growing from nine-years-old to mid-twenties. Perhaps Mace seemed unapproachable to Anakin, but even the ominous figures in our childhood (school principals, the minister, etc.) often are that way because of our admiration--we make them larger than life. Anakin, in an instant, literally aided in throwing all that out the window.

Seeing this unfold again, as I did today, made me realize that there are many times in real life when he make a decision in haste we later regret. Hopefully, it's not a matter of life and death, but sometimes it may mean the end of a friendship, or a romance, or hurt feelings that linger well beyond the moment it took to create them.

A generation later, Luke is seen as being hasty, too, but in an important way he was not. Unlike his father he didn't give into the emotion of the moment and kill the Emperor, or Vader, but kept his one goal in mind: saving Anakin. Anakin wanted to save Padme, but the difference is that Anakin attempted to do so with violence and Luke accomplished as much with love. Perhaps it's worth paying for the sins of our fathers if we can also learn from them.