Day 595: So people can be evil

I finished my closing argument. Revised it and all. Amber and Jessie have been psyching me out about Professor Melilli, how he's like House and he'll tear into me, but my lovely neighbor Stacy assures me that he'll just listen to me, send me on my way, and not say a word. She also assures me that I'm probably far more prepared than many of the students doing this audition nonsense, and so I shouldn't worry. I can't say that it's helping much, really. But I'm going to start doing my little Nagi best to learn the speech tonight. I even hand-wrote the thing for good measure. I have to start practising it in front of the mirror and timing it and whatnot. Makes me very nervous. I hope I don't twist and ankle and fall flat on my face or anything awful.

I'm behind on my homework just a bit. All I really have due tomorrow is Con Law, but I'm not two days ahead like I usually am. I suppose it's good that I'm usually two days ahead, so I can go and have days like today.

Today we had a guest speaker at school. Usually I don't care. Today it was hardcore - there were cops with giant furry dogs that looked like bears, there were men with walkie-talkies and dark serious suits, and we had to be on The List to get into the courtroom to hear the man talk. Who was he? Only one of the judges who sentenced Saddam Hussein to death, and the chief judge of the court at that. He reeled off his introduction in Arabic, and his translator helped with that, but the actual speech was all in English. I admired the way he stuck to his guns and didn't diverge off into weird tangents or stories. I'd have to study how the Iraqi legal system works a bit more, but it seems almost harder than ours the way trials work. He was a brilliant man even with the language barrier, sharp. Of course, Iraq is in the cradle of civilization and brought us things like the Hammurabi code and the epic of Gilgamesh (the first written story ever). At the end of his speech, someone had asked whether or not Saddam ever said he was sorry during the trials, because the judge worked with him for a year and a half, from trial to execution. The judge said that Saddam admitted to making mistakes, but never once did he say sorry, and that he even said that, if he were placed in the same position he was in he'd do everything all over again. I believe people are all born good, partly due to the religion I grew up with, partly because I, too, have my optimistic moments, but I also believe people can turn evil and lose what good they were born with. It was interesting to hear, and a good learning experience.

I'm on the phone with my mom. I'm gonna go now.