Before I left for Boyd Law in early August, I made a list of things I wanted to accomplish by the end of the semester: run a half marathon, play a new sport, join a ping pong club, get a 3.8 GPA, etc.
Now that list is thumb-tacked on the wall above my desk like a demented joke. By the first week in December my goals had become more fundamental: Remember to eat dinner. Brief those cases you haven’t looked at for a while. Remember to sleep. Memorize the elements to those obscure causes of action. Don’t lose it. Try to run today. Maybe run tomorrow. Ok, definitely try to run by the end of the week.
As I packed the last of my things early this morning I glanced up at the list for the last time, and noticed that I had fulfilled only one of the 15+ goals:
10. Make one new good friend.
It wasn’t high on the list. It wasn’t the first thing on my mind when I sat down to write down what I wanted back in August. My GPA was a higher priority. I can’t remember now, but it may have been the highest. In retrospect, it should have been last on the list. The tenth should have been the first.
I received a much-appreciated letter from Ross Armstrong in August, right as I arrived in Las Vegas. Ross is a third year law student at Willamette. When I was a freshman undergraduate, Ross agreed to be my campaign manager when I ran for Student Senate. Ross’ knowledge, guidance, and credibility pushed me into a position I could never have achieved alone; needless to say, I take his advice very seriously.
I re-read his letter this morning, and realized that I had only followed half of it. There are two sections: “Class Success” and “Self Success.” I followed the class advice, but neglected the “self.” Looking at it now, he was entirely correct about how to stay happy and to enjoy life while taking in a large amount of new information. The key is people. Friends will pick you up when you fall behind, and if they can’t help then friends will at least suffer with you.
When the time comes for me to write someone a letter I’ll repeat a lot of the advice that Ross gave me, but I will put “Self Success” first on the list. Then I’ll put “Class Success.” Then I’ll put “Self Success” again, just so that it is the first and last thing the reader remembers. (I learned that in my Lawyering Process course.)
Legal systems are human creations, constructed to maintain order within human social structures. There is nothing natural about a legal system, and therefore studying law without human contact is without merit as well as exceedingly boring. Law is a discipline that is best realized when it is debated, reformulated, and settled, over coffee or in a group study room. The more voices, the merrier.
There are numerous rules and laws, but all are subservient to the Golden Rule. This rule, the basis of Law second only to the human beings themselves, is simple and ancient. It is found in nearly every religion and culture. The Book of the Dead used it as the test of worthiness in crossing over to the afterlife; "He sought for others the good he desired for himself. Let him pass.”
My first semester was as much about learning what to do as much as it was about learning what not to do. It was about trying to see where a behavior or repercussion was treated in the past, is currently being treated, and will be treated in the future, and deciding why it is beneficial for society or else destructive to society. In essence, it’s about trying to do the right thing even under tremendous pressure, and using mental tools other than animalistic emotion to reconcile the “big picture” with the “little picture” and realizing that you will almost always be coming up short in one way or another. At least that’s how it seems to me.
I am so grateful for my fellow students, my professors, Laura, family, Ross, friends, Chipotle, and the workers at the Balance Café.
(Before)
(After)
Wow.
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