Jedi Lilly touched upon an interesting idea in her recent entry that I've been running around in my mind for a while. The issue at hand is trust. As Joker says in Batman, "Who do you trust?"

So first up, why didn't the Council trust Anakin? No one on the Council denied the boy's incredible gifts and connection to the Force, but they did have questions about Anakin's judgment. Time and time again he'd shown himself to be reckless, running headfirst into something without taking time to think about what he was doing. Look at the duel with Count Dooku in AOTC. Anakin rushes in and gets thrashed, leaving Obi-Wan to fight Dooku alone, causing injuries to his Master, and later suffering even more serious injuries when he would face Dookuk alone. The two Jedi would have been killed by Dooku had Yoda not stepped in to save their lives. But Anakin still hasn't learned from his reckless ways. In the Clone Wars cartoons, he rushed off to fight Ventress, ignoring repeated efforts from Obi-Wan to stay put. I'm confident that Obi-Wan spoke of his frustrations about his Padawan and Anakin's continued reckless behavior at least to Yoda and probably to other members of the Council. Note his comment to Captain Typho that he was worried about what Anakin would do off on his own.

Now on a different front, we see the Council becoming increasingly concerned with Palpatine. They have become very suspicious of just what he is up to and there is speculation on their part that he is being controlled by the mysterious Darth Sidiuos. When you combine the Council's lack of trust in Palpatine with Anakin's blind allegiance to him, we have a problem, especially when you factor in Anakin's record of sound judgment or complete lack thereof. Whatever flaws the Council had and whatever mistakes they made with Anakin, they had no reason to trust him. He was a young man in his early 20s who was famous for reckless and sometimes questionable judgment. In other words, why should they trust him? Masterhood is not a prize given away for demonstrating incredible force powers. Indeed, some sources have said that a Knight was granted the rank of Master only after training a Padawan to Knighthood. This says to me that becoming a Master isn't completely dependent upon force skills, but also upon showing restraint, wisdom, and sound judgment, all of which Anakin still has some work to do at the time of ROTS.

And yet trust applies in a completely different kind of relationship in ROTS, namely Anakin and Padme's marriage. Padme even asks Anakin when they're going to trust each other when he's holding back from her after his nightmare. In watching ROTS, the thing that stuck out in my mind was Anakin's failure to listen, especially to Padme. Aside from Palpatine, she was the only person who knew what was tearing him apart, and she was the only person aware of what was happening to Anakin who loved him. Sadly, Anakin continued to refuse to listen to her. When she needed his love, he instead sought power. Now while in his mind, he was seeking this power in an effort to save her, the fact remains that his actions, especially when she confronted him on Mustafar, indicate that he was more worried about power than love. In many ways, Anakin was not there for Padme when she needed him to be there. Once again, we see Palpatine's hand in sowing this mistrust. When Anakin and Padme should have been getting to know each other better, the Clone Wars kept them apart. It appears that Palpatine especially wanted the Council to send Obi-Wan and Anakin as far away from Coruscant as possible, thus keeping Anakin apart from Padme.

Anakin's constant bristling under the occasional stern hand of the Jedi only further played into Palpatine. He could pretend to be a sympathetic ear and tell the boy how he really is perfect, thus gaining Anakin's trust. The problem here is that Palpatine never earned the trust that Anakin placed in him. The trust Anakin had in Palpatine was based off of Palpatine's false facade before the boy. Simply put, Anakin had no reason to trust Palpatine especially after Palpatine revealed that he was the Sith Lord. Now Anakin knows that Palpatine has lied to him all these years, concealing his true identity. Why does he now trust what Palpatine has told him about the power to cheat death, or Anakin's ability to become the most powerful Jedi ever? In my mind, it is especially tragic that Anakin finally does something to truly earn the trust of the Council and follows it up by destroying that trust forever.

Now let's contrast this with Padme and Obi-Wan's treatment of Anakin. Both of them are certainly aware of his flaws and weaknesses, yet they also understand his tremendous strengths, and Obi-Wan knows of his force potential. They also come from a different perspective. Obi-Wan was once a youth. He surely remembers some of the rash decisions he made or wanted to make. He also remembers how Qui-Gon needed to reprimand him from time to time and teach him what he needs to know. Obi-Wan realizes that he has become a powerful Jedi indeed, in part thanks to Qui-Gon's tutelage and the reprimand where necessary. Presumably, Padme has experienced this as well. She was counseled by others as Princess of Theed, Queen of Naboo, and Senator. She's had the opportunity to learn from what mistakes she has made as well. I've always loved her words to Anakin about how mentors can see more of our flaws than we might want them to and how it helps us grow.

The key here is growth. Obi-Wan saw Anakin's flaws, yet he also saw Anakin's potential. He understood that for Anakin to become his very best, Anakin needed to grow. Palpatine offered Anakin a shortcut to what he wanted, the quick and easy path. Obi-Wan and Padme, both of whom truly loved Anakin, saw and understood that he needed to mature. Palpatine essentially ignored Anakin's flaws and didn't give him an opportunity to grow. Obi-Wan and Padme saw the good person that Anakin was, yet they also saw what Anakin could become. Now, it's easy for us to sit back and judge Anakin based on the decision he made and who he chose to trust. We certainly know that things would have turned out differently for him had he chosen to listen to and trust Obi-Wan and Padme instead of Palpatine. So, why do we do this? Why do we examine the choices made by a fictional character in a fictional universe? Because this story may have some personal relevance to our lives.

The central point here is to apply this to ourselves and look at those who we choose to trust and listen to. We all have mentors in our lives, especially when we're younger. I am grateful for my high school football coach who once reminded me when I was complaining about a test score that I could have studied more harder to get a better score. I didn't like what he told me at the time, but I'm very glad he told me that. He taught me personal accountability. Instead of agreeing with me that the teacher had given me a flawed exam, he pointed out that I could have done better on the test had I prepared myself. So perhaps the next time we chafe under the occasioanal stern hand of a parent or mentor, it may be helpful to examine why they're dealing with us in such a manner. They may well be warning us so that we do not make decisions that take us down our own path to the dark side. As one of my heroes has said, "You've never been my age, but I've been you age."