"That depends on the ideals," he points out a bit tartly. "If your only mission in life is to save every person who can be saved, or even help every person who can be helped, you'll never actually get anything done. Terms like collateral damage and acceptable losses started being used for a reason - because things didn't go perfectly. They never can."

He sighs and leans back against the bench, stretching out his legs. "That's barely an ideal. It's just being stuck in that mindset that most of us learn as kids and give up pretty fucking quick when we get older, the idea that everyone can be a winner."