emotional or weak. You are case-hardened.
Nor is it natural for
Love and Lawyering to Save A Soul
Being lost is easily done. Ive been there. Youve probably
been there too.
This is the state of not being in the place where you feel
you are meant to be. Like youre misplaced or left behind or
underdeveloped. A runner who lost his legs may feel this. The
painter who became blind may notice this. The musician who turned
deaf ponders over this.
In fact, this could happen to just about everyone. Whether
youre the manager working day and night or the housewife who had
every potential to be a professional or the beggar on the street.
As for law students, we get lost in our studies.
Its a good kind of lost. The exception to the rule, probably.
Investment, a voice in my head whispers.
The downside of it, though, is that it is a transient
distraction. Knowledge is not everything nor is studying the most
important aspect of life. Nor is intellect as worthy. There are far
greater and more essential things than the success that we seek.
Law and law school is not all there is.
I ask, then what is?
What is the most important thing in life?
Case to case basis, for a lawyers answer.
Love, for my answer.
Love is what I hold dear the most.
Three years ago, I found my life purpose.
It was so simple, so easy, yet requires a lot.
It asked of me to shift my whole life of dreams and pursuit.
To love.
Thats it. 2 words.
Never had it been so clear to me. I had been living my
mission all my life - the purpose of my existence was for love.
Its not even law.
Sometimes, it makes me laugh on my own. Law school is a
never ending meat grinder. Love and law does not go well together,
and yet I am here. Inflicting self-pain.
I am not lost. Every bone in my body knows it. My heart
knows it, and that makes me glad.
The thing is, there is a plan. A divine, blessed plan
designed just for you and I. Customized, they say; personalized,
some proclaim.
Everything that happens in my life, every second, every
twists and turns of fate, I know, leads to my life purpose. Even law
school.
Law is not the end in itself. It is the means.
Why love?
Because it is a manifestation of God. To give love and
share love, in thoughts, words and action is the only human thing I
can do - to show the world God. It is His character, His being. It is so
everyone may know God through me.
I know it sounds absurd. Love is a charitys profession
which has no room in law. In law, there is only justice.
To be honest, being a lawyer is not just mere concern for
the general public. Law requires resilience and resolute. It is a
ruthless profession and unless you are willing to be hell-bent on
moving forward, the tide leaves you. You cannot waver when faced
front with other lawyers and you are not allowed to be tired or
lawyers to love their enemies.
Everything I am working for right now seems to be the
complete opposite of my mission.
But it is not, because:
Number 1, I love the law. Second is that I cannot stay in my
comfort zone living out my mission of giving love and third is that I
am not like the others.
My choice of being a lawyer is a privilege to try unchartered
waters. How often does God call someone to share love in the legal
system?
The funny thing is that Ive always wanted to be a lawyer
since I was a kid but I recently found my life purpose, 3 years ago.
Its only a means of fashioning your career.
Im not about to ignore Gods calling because I have set my
life straight from the very beginning to become a lawyer.
The desire came from Him, I know. Nobody gives you the
drive to want something if not for good reasons (except lust, as we
know it, people get tired eventually of lasciviousness. Its an itch, not
a drive).
The law is what I want. God wants me to share His love.
Eh sino mag-aadjust? Hehe joke lang.
I realized later on that my legal career will be more than
just the usual lawyering. It is for a plan, more diverse than man-
made rules of conduct, deeper than my want for it. More than
society, more than pleasing myself, more than battles against other
lawyers, more than excellence.
It is Gods command. Gods glory.
It was a seed planted for me to use. The tool, the vehicle
for my life mission.
Everything was laid before me. I knew what I wanted to be,
I knew where I was going but before I didnt know what it was for.
I am called to touch lives.
I am called to lead by example.
I am called to save souls.
I am called to prove, futile I may be, but strong in
determination, to show people that it is possible, still, to choose love
over and over again EVEN BY BEING A LAWYER.
I am called to tell people that the things we do in law
cannot be so far from love.
It is inseparable.
It is interconnected.
It is love in another form, in a different name.
It is love in the most limited thing we can give, because we
are humans.
Voice for the oppressed, help for the poor, order for chaos,
peace, liberty and civility.
My law life revolves around love, as long as I look with
eyes of belief.
As I entered law school, I came with me more than want of
being a lawyer.
Some days, I get so exhausted I lose sight of all this but
when I look up the sky, I get reminded.
Law will not turn me into a monster. I refuse to.