The below dialogue from the movie Clerks is perhaps some of the most poignant, and important dialogue in regards to following your own ethics, and personal politics when deciding on work to take as an independent business, contractor, or artist. Please read:

Randal: There was something else going on in Jedi. I ever noticed it till today. They built another Death Star, right?

Dante: Yeah.

Randal: Now, the first one was completed and fully operational before the Rebels destroyed it.

Dante: Luke blew it up, give credit where credit is due.

Randal: And the second one was still being built when they blew it up.

Dante: Compliments of Lando Calrissian.

Randal: Something just never sat right with me that second time around. I could never put my finger on it, but something just wasn't right.

Dante: And you figured it out?

Randal: The first Death Star was manned by the Imperial Army. The only people onboard were stormtroppers, dignitaries—Imperials.

Dante: Basically.

Randal: So, when they blew it up, no problem. Evil's punished.

Dante: And the second time around?

Randal: The second time around, it wasn't even done being built yet. It was still under construction.

Dante: So?

Randal: So, a construction job of that magnitude would require a helluva lot more manpower than the Imperial army had to offer. I'll bet there were independent contractors working on that thing: plumbers, aluminum siders, roofers—

Dante: And not just Imperials, is that what you're getting at?

Randal: Exactly. In order to get it built quickly and quietly they'd hire anybody who could do the job. Do you think the average storm trooper knows how to install a toilet main? All they know is killing and white uniforms.

Dante: All right, so they bring in independent contractors. Why are you so upset with its destruction?

Randal: All those innocent contractors hired to do the job were killed! Casualties of a war they had nothing to do with. All right, look, you're a roofer, and some juicy government contract comes your way; you got a wife and kids and the two-story in suburbia - this is a government contract, which means all sorts of benefits. All of a sudden these left-wing militants blast you with lasers and wipe out everyone within a three-mile radius. You didn't ask for that. You have no personal politics. You're just trying to scrape out a living.

Roofer: Excuse me, I don't mean to interrupt, but what are you two talking about?

Randal: The ending of Return of the Jedi.

Dante: My friend here is trying to convince me that any independent contractors who were working on the uncompleted Death Star were innocent victims when it was destroyed by the Rebels.

Roofer: Well, I'm a contractor myself. I'm a roofer—Dunn and Ready Home Improvements—and speaking as a roofer, I can tell you, a roofer's personal politics comes into play heavily when choosing jobs.

Randal: Oh yeah, like when?

Roofer: Three weeks ago, I was offered a job up in the hills. Beautiful house, tons of property—a simple reshingling job! They told me if I could finish it in one day, I would double my price. Then I realized whose house it was.

Randal: Whose house was it?

Roofer: Dominic Bambino's.

Randal: "Baby-Face" Bambino, the gangster?

Roofer: The same! The money was right, but the risk was too high. I knew who he was, and based on that, I turned the job over to a friend of mine.

Dante: [to Randal] Based on his personal politics.

Roofer: Right! And the next week, the Floressi Family puts out a hit on Baby-Face's house! My friend was shot and killed; didn't even finish reshingling!

Randal: No way.

Roofer: I'm alive because I knew the risk involved with that particular client. My friend wasn't so lucky. Any contractor working on that Death Star knew the risk involved; if they got killed, it's their own fault. A roofer listens to this [pointing to his heart], not his wallet.

The bottom-line message: if you don't adhere to your own code of ethics, and personal politics when taking on work, you have no one to blame but yourself for any negative repercussions that come from it. So much wisdom from a low-budget comedy, where characters are discussing another famous movie in a completely different context. Maybe some day I'll be as good as Kevin Smith was in his 20s....