“Never pretend to a love which you do not actually feel, for love is not ours to command.”
This makes me smile.
Part One:
Today, I finished my Doctor Who themed quiet book.
My two year old is going to FLIP when I hand him this to play with on our two day car ride!
What a great creation!
Book summary for those who were unclear.
“Lawyers are a lot like samurai.
We have a particular code we have to follow that is similar to, but in many ways significantly different and stricter than, other people. We are seen as upper class and powerful types but we’re essentially a highly trained retainer for someone who pays us. We fight others of our kind on behalf of these employers and spend a lot of time training and studying to get to those few moments in a conflict where things usually are decided. We are both idolized and demonized by the entertainment media of the day, though the demonic versions of us are usually placed “on the traitorous bad side” of what story being told.
In peaceful but economically struggling times, a bunch of us are left to wander about without employers…struggling to find a place to use our skills. Of course our suicide rates are pretty high and we’re not overall a very happy bunch. This “struggling, masterless” variant of our profession furthers the folk hero aspect of our work, but the realities are much bleaker and are often simply ignored in favor of the cool narrative.
Also the price of maintaining our “elevated” status is high enough that we often struggle even as some steadily employed members of our profession sneer at us as low-lives, failures, scum, or that old bull of “well, if you’re not working steadily/making money that sucks, but it’s certainly something you’re doing wrong. Just work hard like I do!”
And often we’d really really like to fight these people, but that takes resources we don’t have and pride we can’t afford. And hearing a lot of people assume we’re rich and just don’t care or whatever is really annoying, especially when a lot of people who complain about how badly we treat them are collectively doing better than us. And anyway, you know all that bitchy venom will slide away as soon as they need someone to fight for their cause. And of course it will come right back once you expect to be paid for your skills and for accepting a very high standard of risk and scrutiny for doing a job many people don’t really understand.
And since we need to eat and probably have at least a mild sake habit due to the stressful nature of our profession, we’ll bow and sigh and agree to go to war for those who can pay.
So yeah, it’s a lot like that. Also, there’s the katanas…
”
Well? Does he?
The average 4 year-old child asks over 400 questions a day.
It’s true.
