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InLovingMemory 6 - 28 Mar 2012 - Main.ArleneOrtizLeytte
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| | In Loving Memory
I walked into Print Services in the basement of Columbia’s Journalism School to see my dad, as I usually do after classes and before going home. Instead of the usual cheerful dispositions, I was met with a melancholy so overwhelming that, without reason, my eyes watered. I asked what had happened. My dad replied: “He said he was stressed but no one listened. John died this morning.” | | | I wonder if this failure of empathy is mostly a failure of imagination and if it can be linked to the decline of reading interest and ability that we have discussed in class. I think one of the best and most important things about reading is that it can help people to get inside the consciousness of other people, understand them, and possibly even sympathize with them. A good novel (and good nonfiction) can immerse a reader in the consciousness of another, in my opinion, more effectively than movies or TV shows can, because in many books the perception of someone else's consciousness is the main event. When we stop reading books, or read them less carefully, we lose this kind of insight. We stop being interested in trying to understand what is going on in other people's brains, and get too wrapped up in our own.
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> | Lisette, Abiola, and Katherine: Thank you for sharing your thoughts and being so transparent. I share your feelings of indignation, but I find it difficult to pinpoint exactly why I felt indignant. Here are a couple reasons.
When I first read the title to this thread, my first thought was to the photography exhibit I visited this weekend about the Loving family, of Loving v. Virginia. This Supreme Court case found Virginia's anti-miscegenation laws unconstitutional. The photographs feature a happy, stable, integrated family. Their only fear was their state's statutes, criminalizing their unity. Reflecting on the family photographs, I was struck by my ability to forget. I needed this exhibit to remind me of past injustices, current injustices, and what the heck I am supposed to be doing with my legal career. The exhibit was also a slap in the face--a re-consciousness that I am not male, white, or able to marry my significant other in many states outside of New York. It was a reminder that many Loving moments in our legal history are still to be had.
If Eben is correct, that even the greatest capitalist is afraid of capitalism, then regardless of the accidents of our origins, we all carry our own "fears." How pressing or important some fears are in the face of others, of course, is another question. Yet, what angers me is how in response to those fears, most people (myself included) insulate ourselves. By actively feigning fearlessness, are we actively forgetting? And is this process of forgetting what enables a lack of empathy and compassion?
At the intersection of our faltering memory is the type of professional legal prestige we are sold. Hooked to their "smart phones" law students and thousands of BigLawyers? , is today's lawyer enabled by the profession to forget what matters beyond a billable hour?
To be more practical, Lisette, I would only suggest that you take advantage of the resources at CLS. I think this challenge is your moment to force one these erudite professors to teach you the skills to be an advocate. They might even learn something about what it means to be an actual lawyer too.
-- ArleneOrtizLeytte - 28 Mar 2012 |
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