nagi_schwarz | Day 589: The legal soul

Professor Knoepfler wasn't kidding when she said law school ruins people as human beings. I realized it today. I stuck around after school to talk to Shelley the 2L about being a mock trial witness for her, and then I headed up to the corner to study with the Losers like we always do (although most of them bunked off). Jason was there, and we studied in mutual silence until he took off. He was a long time coming back, and when he returned I asked where he was in case something bad had happened and he'd had a nasty phone call from his attorney or something. It wasn't a big deal - he'd just run into Xiao Qian and had a talk with her. Poor girl. Her boyfriend just broke up with her. It wasn't pretty. Her man was apparently some version of Orthodox Jewish and his parents wanted him to marry a good Jewish girl so their children would be Jewish. Jason thought it was awful, that Xiao Qian's boyfriend was racist (he thinks Jews are the most racist people in the world) and that people need to get over old prejudices in the twenty-first century. I argued that it was the boyfriend's choice to go along with his parents' pressures or not. As the only Jewish people I ever knew were very nice and hardly racist I had no real comeback for that contention. I have come to understand that, modern ideas aside, in the end it's easier to "stick to your own kind" as far as ease of culture and value similarity is concerned. Jason thought that was old-fashioned, that barriers needed to come down. I pointed out that barriers don't come down - one person merely surrenders part of his or her identity to fit with the other. That's what happens to immigrants who come to America. Sure, people like Adam say they're German, but there's no German in the world who would recognize him as German because Adam is, for all cultural intents and purposes, America. It's easier if people integrate and become American, but the culture from the old country loses out, and that's that. Jason argued that protestants are pretty good about inter-marrying. I pointed out that protestants don't have the sharply divergent culture that Jews have. All in all, it was a friendly, well thought-out disagreement.

But it was at Xiao Qian's expense. Before, I would have been sympathetic, asking if she was all right, if she needed help or someone to hang out with. Instead, I latched onto the chance to attempt to solve one of the world's problems, like people do when they talk. I felt really horrible afterwards. Where has all my sympathy gone? It's gone toward solving problems and spotting issues and framing issues and putting forward a good argument.

I do think law school is stealing my soul.

On a weird and oddly up note, Jackie finally got her wish and set me up on a date with Dustin the air force counterintelligence guy. Apparently last weekend for FHE the gang filled out dating match-up sheets and then Amber and Jackie matched people up. Even people who weren't there. So Dustin and I will be hanging out together at next week's St. Patrick's Day bash. Dustin's a cool guy. He served his mission in Japan and also does kendo, so we're going to spar sometime, for which I'm pretty jazzed. Drat. Should've got Justin to teach me a few different stances before going in for another round. It would also be fun to teach some to Brieyln. Who is no longer my VT companion. I found out on Sunday that the assignments have been rearranged. It made me sort of sad. But she's still my friend, so it's all good.

Meh. I should do homework now.

More homework, at any rate.