Law Professor Quote of the Day...Month...Year

"Why was there chicken wire around the marijuana? To keep deer out! You don’t want to see Bambi running around out in the road looking like he’s been smoking cigars and drinking brandy at Churchill’s, talking bad about Joe Stalin and saying nice thinks about FDR!"

Anything Can Happen

When it comes to dining at the spread of educational topics in law school, nothing is off limits. Though most days we get to make another notch under our desk for the umpteenth time we've encountered the word "reasonable" or one of its relatives, there are moments of surprise.

For example, in property law, today's reading and tomorrow's lecture involves a discussion of ownership and use rights of oxbow lakes.

The Hudson River Miracle

The Story

Rule #12

Be prepared to argue for people you don't want to.

A semester-along assignment in one class is to craft an appellate argument. Each of us in class had to draw at random from a hat to decide which side of the case each of us would argue. I spent part of yesterday evening reading through the materials and then hoping that I got to argue the appellee's side. She's a much more reputable character in my mind. And lo and behold, I randomly select the appellant, instead. My heart sank. I have to represent that chick? The one who received a benefit from someone and then threw it back in their face? Who won who used and then abused? And yet, she may have a valid legal case. I suppose you have to love law and order in the abstract to be in the business...or else lose all sentiments of what is right and good and just argue because you are told to, like a war machine...or some mixture of both.

Dante's Inferno

Though Dante Aligheri's The Divine Comedy was apparently more of a political satire than an intended primer of spiritual truths, the Christian can read the work and find some stunning truths. Aligheri apparently at least had a knowledge of his Bible, and in the first of the three books, Inferno, the pilgrim's descent into Aligheri's hell makes some profound and, I found, often true statements about divine justice and the path to redemption.

Midway along the journey of our life I woke to find myself in a dark wood, for I had wandered off from the straight path...How I entered there I cannot truly say, I had become so sleepy at the moment when I first strayed, leaving the path of truth... Canto I, 1-3; 10-12

There is so much truth in this. When any one of us falls prey to sin, and we continue therein, it eventually becomes impossible to recall the moment when we first turned from truth. Often times, we wake up one day and realize our lives are far from what God planned for us. And what a frightful realization!

I am the way into the doleful city, I am the way into eternal grief, I am the way to a forsaken race. Justice it was that moved my great Creator; divine omnipotence created me, and highest wisdom joined with primal love. Before me nothing but eternal things were made, and I shall last eternally. Abandon every hope, all you who enter. The Gate of Hell, Canto III, 1-9

O Highest Wisdom, how you demonstrate your art in Heaven, on earth, and here in Hell! How justly does your power make awards! Canto XIX, 10-12

What can I add! Woe unto our modern American Christian churches, that a fourteenth century poet preaches more truth than we do! There cannot be good without evil, heaven without hell. How can a loving God create hell? God is loving, but he is also just.

...When, from the mountain's top where the slide began to the plain below, the shattered rocks slipped down, shaping a path for a difficult descent--" Canto XII, 7-9

As the pilgrim descends into the lower levels of Hell, he comes across a steep and shattered terrain caused by Christ's descent into Hell. I love this imaginative description of the Bible's declaration that Jesus descended into Hell and reclaimed the keys of death and Hell from Satan. The poet portrays Christ's descent having altered the very course of the fiery landscape.

Who could, even in the simplest kind of prose describe in full the scene of blood and wounds that I saw now--no matter how he tried! Certainly any tongue would have to fail: man's memory and man's vocabulary are not enough to comprehend such pain. Canto XXVIII, 1-6

As the pilgrim views each contrapasso, he becomes more and more horrified at the punishments he views. But in Canto XXVIII, he is utterly stricken with grief at viewing souls that are ripped open from mouth to loins, with entrails spilling out. They are the sowers of discord. This ghastly description makes me think about what our foul deeds must smell of to a righteous God.

I do not revel in such readings, but I am moved to consider my ways (see Haggai 1:7) and am brought to gratefulness that "He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin" (II Cor. 5:21), that Christ has taken our punishment upon Himself.

2009 A.D.

Happy New Year.

Some thoughts...

Denver//After San Diego, we spent a few days in Denver. This being the third year I spent with the Denverian relatives, I've begun to feel like a regular user of party favors and new year cheers at the Porter residence. It was wonderful seeing them, as always. This was the first time I've been there and there was no snow on the ground. Boohoo.

Old Folks//We visited some of my Dad-in-law's elderly relatives in the nursing home. I just wanted to hug those old ladies over and over again. And they would take all the affection we had to offer. One aunt reminded us over and over again, "I'd never thought it'd be like this" (referring to the limitations and loss incurred by old age). A sovereign plea they made to us to remember to treasure the time that is given to us. I love the old folks; I want to be loved when I join the club one day.

Marley & Me//Great movie, though it warranted a higher rating for suggestive references and I do not think parents should take their kids to see it, ironically enough. The cute but outrageous dog serves merely as a plot device to show the life cycle of Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston's marriage: the wedding day, the start-up careers, attempts to overcome infertility, suddenly having too many kids, wife's postpartum depression, marital strife, career changes, etc. A very thought provocative and heartfelt movie for those thinking about starting a family (i.e. getting married), it almost made me teary-eyed. (For what it's worth, I've only heretofore cried during war movies and The Passion.)

Murder Mysteries//I'd never heard of this before, either, except for the times Amanda told me it might be a good idea. A great way to spend New Year's Eve, we all played this prepackaged game in which each of us was a character and had to solve a whodunnit. Filled with a dead defense program worker, FBI investigations, crack dealers, KGB agents, jealous lovers, and other colorful characters, a great mind exercise and way to pass the time.

Grades Are In//Glory to GOD.

Year in Review//Enjoy.