History Main / ItNeverGetsAnyEasier

* In ''VideoGame/TraumaCenter'', the (player) doctor plays this trope dead straight. Despite working under difficult conditions, against pathogens that would make Ebola seem a walk in the park if a single patient dies, it's game over because the doctor resigns.

* Outside of PR events, animals used in testing or observed in the field are ''never'' referred to with names to prevent personal emotional attachment in the case the animal dies. Contrary to what AnimalWrongsGroups tell people, [[TearJerker it still feels terrible anyway.]]

** Mostly because he is at heart [[MartialPacifist a pacifist]]. While Zero has learned to deal with death over his career, X always feels grief and doubt about those who die in the Maverick Wars, even his own enemies. It's even be argued that he ''deliberately'' does this so he always has sympathy for the enemy because becoming callous is not the way to finding real peace. When he realized it ''was'' getting easier during the time period between the ''X'' and ''Zero'' series after Zero sealed himself away and left him to fight alone, he chose to retire and become the living seal on the Dark Elf to prevent himself from completely slipping off the slope and ''maybe'' use it as time to reorient his perspective. Unfortunately, things got much, ''much'' worse...

* Outside of PR events, animals used in testing or observed in the field are ''never'' referred to with names... because then ItsPersonal if they die. Contrary to what PETA tells people, [[TearJerker it still feels terrible anyway.]]

* US police departments encourage this way of thinking. Lethal force is always the absolute last resort and after having to use it most officers are taken off active duty for a period of time and receive counselling.

** Subverted by [[TheAce Mu La Flaga]], who displays a thick-skinned attitude towards combat. At one point, after a town is razed for supporting LaResistance, he tells its newly-homeless citizens (correctly, but [[InnocentlyInsensitive without sensitivity]]) that the enemy commander ([[NobleDemon Waltfeld]]) was very kind to give them the chance to evacuate first and that they are being let off lightly.

** Subverted by [[TheAce Mu La Flaga]], who displays a thick-skinned attitude towards combat. At one point, after a town is razed for supporting LaResistance, he tells its newly-homeless citizens (correctly, but [[{{Jerkass}} without sensitivity]]) that the enemy commander was very kind to give them the chance to evacuate first and that they are being let off lightly.
** On the other end of the scale, [[MessianicArchetype Kira]] spends a good portion of the first series in various stages of HeroicBSOD [[strike:because of]] trying to ''avoid'' this trope, because he knows he's the OnlyOne who can protect the [[CoolShip Archangel]].

* ''Literature/TheWayOfKings'' (first book of ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive''): [[TheMedic Kaladin]]. A combination of this and SamaritanSyndrome nearly drive him over the DespairEventHorizon.

-->-- '''Dr. Tenma''', ''Anime/{{Monster}}''

* Dr. Tenma from ''Anime/{{Monster}}'' [[AllLovingHero appears to be physically incapable of letting anyone die on his watch]]. Even when the patient in question has handcuffed him and is currently ''threatening to shoot him'' if he so much as takes another step closer.

* In ''VideoGame/BioShockInfinite'', Booker says this to Elizabeth after the latter [[spoiler:kills Daisy Fitzroy to protect an innocent child]]. He had previously tried to brush off her shock over his apparent callousness toward killing people, so this scene serves to show how the two are becoming FireForgedFriends.

* In Dani Beck's first appearance on ''Series/LawAndOrderSVU'', she gets emotional over a witness interview and promises Stabler that she'll get used to it eventually. He tells her that if that ever happens, she should quit.

* While a variation of this trope may seem to be played straight in the game ''VideoGame/BrothersInArms: Hell's Highway'', it can be excused on account Wiki/ThatOtherWiki claims the Operation Market Garden that the game takes place in seems to be a rather big failure as there are around 18000 casualties or losses by the Allies' forces that you play versus the 8000 casualties by the Germans. ([[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Market_Garden see the proof here!]]) Operation Market Garden was, strategically speaking, a colossal failure, committing resources to a risky attack that failed within ''days'' and had to be defended for ''weeks'', requiring even more resources.

* In an episode of ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', Picard has to tell a boy that his mother was killed on an away mission, and Wesley asks how one gets used to doing that. Riker replies that you hope you never do.
** This exchange occurs in an early episode where Dr. Crusher deals with planet stricken by an epidemic:

** In the episode "Contagion", having witnessed the ''Yamato'' go up in a ball of anti-matter-induced explosion, Wesley confides in Picard that he can't stop thinking about the ship and its people and wonders how he, Riker and Geordi can handle it. Picard tells him that they can't, but they're trained to push forward.

* {{Parodied}} in ''WesternAnimation/SouthParkBiggerLongerAndUncut'', when the doctor (voiced by Creator/GeorgeClooney) fails to resuscitate [[TheyKilledKennyAgain Kenny]][[note]]because he replaced his heart with a baked potato[[/note]] and cries, verbatim, "[[PunctuatedPounding It never! Gets! Any! Easier]]!" [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjN6xh8nsf4 He immediately begins whistling and walks away]].

* Parodied on ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' when Granpa Abe Simpson tells a {{Bowdlerized}} war story.

%%* {{Parodied}} in ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark''--After

* Steven Brust and Emma Bull's ''Freedom & Necessity'': James Cobham's letter of 27 October, and then Susan Voight's journal entries of 30 November and 1 December. (It would take far too long to explain the combination of "you get used to it", "you never get used to it", and "I am used to it but ''you'' are not allowed to get used to it".)

* In ''Anime/IlSolePenetraLeIllusioni'' this is said word for word, regarding the fact that the heroes have to kill the victims of possession.

* In the Franchise/JamesBond film ''Film/{{Spectre}}'' , MI6 Director Malory becomes the ''first'' hero in the film series to openly address the moral-responsibility associated with taking a human life. When a young agent casually quips how The Status of Double-O is awarded to those who are willing to pull the trigger, Malory chastises him with weary sadness that The License to Kill is a ''responsibility'' and '''burden,''' not awarded to cold blooded killers, but only those who know when ''not'' to pull the trigger.

* In the Franchise/JamesBond film ''Film/{{Spectre}}'' , MI6 Director Malory becomes the ''first'' hero in the film series to openly address the moral-responsibility associated with taking a human life. When a young agent casually quips how The Status off Double-O is awarded to those who are willing to pull the trigger, Malory chastises him with weary sadness that The License to Kill is a ''responsibility'' and '''burden,''' not awarded to cold blooded killers, but only those who know when ''not'' to pull the trigger.

[[folder: Comic Books]]