K.R.: If it’s in my mind, I got it.
One of the most concise, profound arguments for legalizing music downloads.
***
G.B. works in the I.T. field, computers, networking, the like. We were talking on IM, and he told me how he got C.T. a job at A.O.I. as technical support. Then, G.B. told me that he could probably get me the same position, as I need a job within a year or so. I responded that I was looking into becoming a paralegal, as that would let me use my law degree without having to deal with all the stress of being a lawyer. G.B. suggested I look up the median salaries for paralegals on salary.com. The median salary is around forty thousand dollars a year, not bad at all. Then, we looked up C.E.O. median salaries, around six hundred seventy thousand dollars a year. Not bad, both he and I will look into obtaining such positions in the near future. Then: “Look at a lawyer’s salary, see how much you could make.” Hmm…. Eighty-five thousand dollars.
Oh God.
Eighty-five thousand dollars.
Wow.
I sat at the laptop for a few seconds, dumbfounded. Then, a strange feeling flooded my body. Intense greed, avarice beyond belief, absolute longing for every material possession I could get my hands on, gripped me. I had to get up and go get some Chick-fil-a.
Eighty-five thousand a year. Starting salary. Damned if that didn’t look nicer than a glass of water in the desert. I still can’t believe how greedy I got then, or how even now, I can feel it crushing my last vestiges of selflessness. I’ve never felt that selfish before in my life (I hope). I’ve never wanted that much money, just enough to get by. Forty thousand as a paralegal wouldn’t be easy, what with the built in law school loan, but I also wouldn’t be suffering. But, that eighty-five thousand. Damn. Can’t even really find the right words to describe how tempting it is.
I can count on my fingers the few times during this law school experience that I’ve wanted to become a lawyer. One, Constitutional Law II: Individual Rights. Professor M.M. worked in public advocacy in his younger days. He went to prisons, to slums, to places where the disadvantaged and disenfranchised had no voice, and he spoke for them. He lifted them up. Professor M.M. geared the class towards a public advocacy slant. On the last day of class, he told us what he had done, and how he hoped that we could see that what we did extended beyond the classroom, beyond the courtroom, how real people were being affected, how we could help others, how we could make that proverbial difference. For a few moments, I got caught up in his soft-spoken words, and I would have followed him into the slums and jails of the world to help these people. I probably would have followed him into Hell to represent the damned, such a chord he strummed on my heart strings. Hell, even now, there’s a chance I might do some public advocacy stuff, a desire I’ve suppressed for a long time, for fear that I’d become a lawyer. Damn you Professor M.M., damn you for making me care.
Two, Tobacco Control: Legal Theory and Practice. Calling Big Tobacco evil is calling a monsoon a spring shower. They peddle sickness and death to the masses, then hook them younger and younger to replace the dying legions all hacking in tune to their evil leader. Those coughs and wheezes signify nothing less than the almighty dollar to Big Tobacco. Despite the Master Settlement Agreement, they continue on their path. As I stumble through this class, as I realize that it is the most work I will ever do for what is essentially three credits, I wonder whether or not Big Tobacco will ever fold. Yes, once they hook kids young enough, they will die before reproducing, and one of the most effective human-made viruses will kill itself off, having massacred its food source. Until then, they juggernaut onwards. During our weekly meetings, I watch Professor K.D., and how much she cares about this, partly for her young son and his health. There are a lot of people that are passionate about this, ready to help, ready to throw their hearts and souls into this cause. I want a cause, I want to help. I want to drink the Kool-Aid.
Three, my parents. My dad is old enough to retire, but can’t because his medicine is expensive. My mom shouldn’t work so much, but she needs to make ends meet. It doesn’t matter what I do, I’ll help them any way I can, but being a lawyer would make it much easier to help them.
Four, salary.com. I explained that above.
There’s nothing wrong with working a forty hour work week and taking home forty thousand a year. Respectable, pedestrian, safe and secure. There’s everything wrong with working an eighty-five hour work week and taking home eighty-five thousand a year. Stress, burnout, frustration, mindblowing.
So why am I starting to run out of fingers on my left hand to count reasons on?
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