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From time to time I come across various snippets that reflect past or present situations in my life.  For one reason or another, the below excerpts connect with me.  Because they state the issues in a far more eloquent, effective manner than I ever could, I am replicating them below for your reading pleasure.

I highly recommend these reads.  These two books are very interesting with excellent character development, containing themes with excellent moral centers.

Excerpt from A Time To Kill, by John Grisham, p.113

“Look Stan, we’re not all filthy rich.  A law degree is not worth what it once was –too many of us.  Fourteen in this little town.  Competition is tough, even in Clanton –not enough good cases and too many lawyers.  It’s worse in the big towns, and the law schools graduate more and more, many of whom can’t find jobs.  I get ten kids a year knocking on my door looking for work.  A big firm in Memphis laid off some lawyers a few months ago.  Can you imagine?  Just like a factory, they laid them off.  I suppose they went down to the unemployment office and stood in line with the ‘dozer operators.  Lawyers now, not secretaries or truck drivers, but lawyers.”

Excerpt from The Rainmaker, by John Grisham, p.191 – 92.

“I started law school less than three years ago with typical noble aspirations of one day using my license to better society in some small way, to engage in an honorable profession governed by ethical canons I thought all lawyers would strive to uphold.  I really believed this.  I knew I couldn’t change the world, but I dreamed of working in a high-pressure environment filled with sharp-witted people who adhered to a set of lofty standards.  I wanted to work hard and grow in my profession, and in doing so attract clients not by slick advertising but by reputation.  And along the way, as my skills and fees increased, I would be able to take on unpopular cases and clients without the burden of getting paid.  These dreams are not unusual for beginning law students.”

“To the credit of the law school, we spent hours studying and debating ethics.  Great emphasis was placed on the subject, so much so that we assumed the profession was zealous about enforcing a rigid set of guidelines.  Now I’m depressed by the truth.  For the past month, I’ve had one real lawyer after another throw darts in my balloon.  I’ve been reduced to a poacher in hospital cafeterias, for a thousand bucks a month.  I’m sickened and saddened by what I’ve become, and I’m staggered by the speed at which I’ve fallen.”

“My best friend in college was Craig Balter.  We roomed together for two years.  I was in his wedding last year.  Craig had one goal when we started college, and that was to teach high school history.  He was very bright and college was too easy for him.  We had long discussions about what to do with our lives.  I thought he was shortchanging himself by wanting to teach, and he’d get angry when I compared my future profession with his.  I was headed for big money and success on a high level.  He was headed for the classroom, where his salary was subject to factors out of his control.”

“Craig got a master’s and married a schoolteacher.  He’s now teaching ninth-grade history and social studies, She’s pregnant and teaching kindergarten.  They have a nice home in the country with a few acres and a garden, and they are the happiest people I know.  Their joint income is probably around fifty thousand a year.”

“But Craig doesn’t care about money.  He’s doing exactly what he always wanted to do.  I, on the other hand, have no idea what I’m doing.  Craig’s job is immensely rewarding because he’s affecting young minds.  He can envision the results of his labors . . . .”

“Things must improve.  But before they do, there are still at least two more possible disasters.  First, I could be arrested . . . and second, I could flunk the bar exam.”

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 18th, 2010 at 3:29 pm and is filed under Reflective Thinking. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.