The choice not given

"So, what do you want?"

"To offer you a choice. You can keep the lightsaber you stole, let it become just another dusty souvenir. Or you can give it back and come with us, come with me and be trained in the ways of the Force. You can learn what it truly means to be a Jedi."

~

"I’m not sure," Qui-Gon said, "how much of a privilege it is to have one's entire future predetermined—in this case, by an accident of birth." []

"It matters what that future is, doesn't it? Fanry was born a princess. That's a privilege."

"It’s still something chosen for her," Qui-Gon insisted. "Not what she herself chose." []

"You weren't talking about the princess at all, were you?" [] Pax's stare was fixed on Qui-Gon. "You were talking about yourself. Because it's not a choice for Jedi, either, is it? I mean, supposedly they allow you to leave, make your own decisions, blah blah blah, but they steal you when you're babies and train your minds thereafter. What kind of freedom is that?"

Obi-Wan looked like he'd swallowed a gundark. "Being a Jedi is an honor. A responsibility. A—a noble calling—"

"Yes, Padawan," Qui-Gon said quietly. "It's all those things. But it's very hard for most of us to determine whether we chose it freely, being raised as we were. That said, I did have a choice. Dooku helped me to see that. And I chose the Order."

~

"You must learn the ways of the Force if you're to come with me to Alderaan."

"Alderaan? I'm not going to Alderaan. I've got to go home. [] I can't get involved! I've got work to do!" []

"You must do what you feel is right, of course."

~

The habit of snatching infants from their parents' arms wasn't the Order's best-winning move, especially because absolutely unnecessary.

Luke and Ezra started their training very late in their lives. But, despite dark side temptations and all —Ezra even followed the instructions of a Sith Holocron, for almost six months— they turned out pretty balanced humans and Jedi, surrounded, as they were, by adoring friends and family. And that, if you ask me, because they were given an actual choice.

Carbonized relatives aside, of course.

[Photo: Qui-Gon and Kanan Funko. Background: "Age of The Republic: Qui-Gon Jinn"]