How about this one?
Posted: Mon Sep 12, 2022 11:28 pm
I was ten years old. I walked down the hidden staircase. I opened the door and turned to see my mother and uncle toasting champagne glasses in the morning in a large room with a pink carpet. My uncle had just won the governor state primary, and I felt something I've never quite felt again and perhaps have been chasing ever since. Success.
Seven years later and I was in a different state, away from extended family, and back to being an only child with a single mother again. My group of friends had several runins with the cops. On one evening I got in a minor car wreck and a state trooper pulled up. I remember him walking up to me saying, "Mr. Signal3!"
I then explained to him that I observed the other car's tire tracks curving towards the intersection where the accident occurred, and that maybe he was speeding. He promptly told me that he calculated the distance and estimated that the car was not speeding. Later after the other party left, he walked up to me and asked, "So do you still want to be a lawyer?" He remembered me from a single occasion a year prior, telling him I wanted to be a lawyer when I grew up. I think he recognized that I had potential and merit, and that is why he remembered.
Five years later I was in Iraq, visiting an Iraqi Police station with my commanding major. Although I was assigned to the tactical operations center on base, he personally requested me to attend his diplomatic meetings with him that day. During a meeting with the Iraqi police chief, he paused and asked me, "So Signal3, what do you think of all this?" I can't say I had a good answer, but I felt honored to be included, and I think he also saw something in me, just like the state trooper. I never got a chance to thank him, until a year after I left the military. I saw him a thousand miles away at the airport. I finally had the opportunity to express my gratitude, and I worded it to him as I worded it to you, his response being "No shittt," with a tone I believe meant, "Wow, this is a small world, and sometimes amazing things happen."
Another ten years went by and I was working in a state prison, delivering property to an inmate who just assaulted another inmate with a knife. He was listed as an "Enforcer" for the security threat group Latin Kings. I remember staring into his eyes about twenty minutes after the incident, and him looking back with eyes I had never seen on anyone before. Eyes of rage. Only it was not a normal type of rage. It was the type of rage you see in someone who was likely abused as a child, went to prison and then for the first time in his life, found something similar to family. It was very sad. I was still very new, so out of corteous habit I nodded to him, and for some reason he completely relaxed, let out a deep breath, nodded back and looked down with humility. I can't say for certain why. Perhaps he was just afraid officers would give him a hard time. Maybe it was because Latin Kings have a code to treat officers with respect unlike any of the other groups. Or maybe because in some twisted way, he thought I supported his actions. Either way, I got to see a part of life working in a prison that I dare say most people never get to experience, and with my social psychological education, it helped me understand people, and will help me understand future clients at a deeper level as well.
I recently spoke to an individual at jury duty for about three hours on all sorts of intellectual topics. We eventually got around to the stock market, financial advising, and then eventually into my future law practice. I mentioned family law, and he pivoted to an aspect of estate planning and then mentioned that "his guys" are business brokers and close an average of 12 deals a year, often averaging a million dollar salary, without a law degree.
Now I don't know how true any of that is, or if he was trying to recruit me, but I do know one thing; I wasn't interested at all. I've learned a lot about myself over the years and there are four things I am not willing to sacrifice for money, in relation to a career: 1) A pathway to ownership, 2) Working in the center of a crowd, 3) The ability to significantly affect the quality of people's lives, and 4) Affecting positive change at a micro and macro level.
My plan is to work as a public defender for three years, join a criminal defense and family law practice for two years, and then start both my own solo practice as well as a nonprofit which will help offenders stay out of trouble and families stay together.
I want to achieve or even surpass the success of my family before me, but do so in a way that fulfills my individuality. This will allow me to engage wisely and passionately in a sustainable manner that can continue to build into a masterpiece that I will, and consider it a duty to do so, contribute to society.
I recognize that life circumstances can change at any time, and that honorable and lofty goals may not always pan out. I also know what I want and know I am fully capable of achieving them. The only thing that could change that may be falling in love and starting a family, but even then, I view the world with the same amount of love I would have for my own child, and whether I have children or adopt, I want to be a role model of how to succeed in life in a way that benefits others as much as it benefits ourselves.
Seven years later and I was in a different state, away from extended family, and back to being an only child with a single mother again. My group of friends had several runins with the cops. On one evening I got in a minor car wreck and a state trooper pulled up. I remember him walking up to me saying, "Mr. Signal3!"
I then explained to him that I observed the other car's tire tracks curving towards the intersection where the accident occurred, and that maybe he was speeding. He promptly told me that he calculated the distance and estimated that the car was not speeding. Later after the other party left, he walked up to me and asked, "So do you still want to be a lawyer?" He remembered me from a single occasion a year prior, telling him I wanted to be a lawyer when I grew up. I think he recognized that I had potential and merit, and that is why he remembered.
Five years later I was in Iraq, visiting an Iraqi Police station with my commanding major. Although I was assigned to the tactical operations center on base, he personally requested me to attend his diplomatic meetings with him that day. During a meeting with the Iraqi police chief, he paused and asked me, "So Signal3, what do you think of all this?" I can't say I had a good answer, but I felt honored to be included, and I think he also saw something in me, just like the state trooper. I never got a chance to thank him, until a year after I left the military. I saw him a thousand miles away at the airport. I finally had the opportunity to express my gratitude, and I worded it to him as I worded it to you, his response being "No shittt," with a tone I believe meant, "Wow, this is a small world, and sometimes amazing things happen."
Another ten years went by and I was working in a state prison, delivering property to an inmate who just assaulted another inmate with a knife. He was listed as an "Enforcer" for the security threat group Latin Kings. I remember staring into his eyes about twenty minutes after the incident, and him looking back with eyes I had never seen on anyone before. Eyes of rage. Only it was not a normal type of rage. It was the type of rage you see in someone who was likely abused as a child, went to prison and then for the first time in his life, found something similar to family. It was very sad. I was still very new, so out of corteous habit I nodded to him, and for some reason he completely relaxed, let out a deep breath, nodded back and looked down with humility. I can't say for certain why. Perhaps he was just afraid officers would give him a hard time. Maybe it was because Latin Kings have a code to treat officers with respect unlike any of the other groups. Or maybe because in some twisted way, he thought I supported his actions. Either way, I got to see a part of life working in a prison that I dare say most people never get to experience, and with my social psychological education, it helped me understand people, and will help me understand future clients at a deeper level as well.
I recently spoke to an individual at jury duty for about three hours on all sorts of intellectual topics. We eventually got around to the stock market, financial advising, and then eventually into my future law practice. I mentioned family law, and he pivoted to an aspect of estate planning and then mentioned that "his guys" are business brokers and close an average of 12 deals a year, often averaging a million dollar salary, without a law degree.
Now I don't know how true any of that is, or if he was trying to recruit me, but I do know one thing; I wasn't interested at all. I've learned a lot about myself over the years and there are four things I am not willing to sacrifice for money, in relation to a career: 1) A pathway to ownership, 2) Working in the center of a crowd, 3) The ability to significantly affect the quality of people's lives, and 4) Affecting positive change at a micro and macro level.
My plan is to work as a public defender for three years, join a criminal defense and family law practice for two years, and then start both my own solo practice as well as a nonprofit which will help offenders stay out of trouble and families stay together.
I want to achieve or even surpass the success of my family before me, but do so in a way that fulfills my individuality. This will allow me to engage wisely and passionately in a sustainable manner that can continue to build into a masterpiece that I will, and consider it a duty to do so, contribute to society.
I recognize that life circumstances can change at any time, and that honorable and lofty goals may not always pan out. I also know what I want and know I am fully capable of achieving them. The only thing that could change that may be falling in love and starting a family, but even then, I view the world with the same amount of love I would have for my own child, and whether I have children or adopt, I want to be a role model of how to succeed in life in a way that benefits others as much as it benefits ourselves.