My Personal Statement

Many graduate programs require applicants to write a personal statement. I'm planning to go to law school, so I've written the following as part of my application. A few people have indicated that it has value beyond what I thought it did, so I decided to publish it here and see what happens.

We live in a world where order is maintained ostensibly through the use of threats. Underneath it all, order is generally maintained by the mostly unrecognized and understated goodness common to most human beings. The lack of recognition leaves most people feeling that social order requires, as Thomas Hobbes wrote in LEVIATHAN, some kind of threat from an overwhelming force. My stand is that this goodness be recognized and celebrated, and that where it is missing, those in whom it is missing be inspired by its presence in others.

I have viewed law through two lenses because it has two distinct meanings. The law of gravity is unbreakable. While it is true that it may not be an accurate description of reality, we do not recognize any choice in obeying it. It is the universe that operates by this kind of law, and if we remain unsupported, we fall, regardless of our will. The law of man, however, is entirely breakable, however much human beings strive to prevent it from being broken. That striving is a product of our desire for social order, an order we believe is required for the attainment of our higher goals of peace, prosperity, and joy.

My respect for and faith in the common goodness of human beings makes the strategy of threats ugly to me. It appears to me to be counterproductive. As John Schaller writes in “The Christian Church and Education,” there has never been a government that did not ultimately rely on brute force. Augustine, in “On the Spirit and the Letter,” explains that prohibition invites its own violation. My desire to study law, the law of man, comes from the reliance on it exhibited by those around me. If I am to help bridge any gap between common goodness and the strategy accepted by most to achieve social cohesion, then I must understand that strategy.

I recognize the usefulness of the strategy of threats. It is not hard to find a person whose good behavior is primarily an attempt to avoid punishment. Each of us must have some basic method to deal with those people, and for many, that method is the law of man, the strategy of threats. It does generally ensure that the few human beings without enough common goodness to peacefully coexist with others don’t ruin it for everyone, but in my view, the law of man has grown cancerous. It is like the king against which the Lord warned Samuel, Biblical knowledge to which Thomas Paine referred in Common Sense.

Lord Acton, in a letter to a bishop in 1887, wrote “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, ... .” I believe the corruptibility of those given power comes more from those ceding their power than from those receiving it. The answer to this, in my mind, is for more people to hold on to their power, and a good lawyer is often the one best suited to show someone how to do that, or even, because of our tendency to rely on authority, the only one who is allowed to do it.

Corruption is a violation of the trust placed in a person that holds power. There are laws and punishments on the books prescribed for these cases, and sometimes they are effective at preventing people in power from going through with their violation of the trust put in them. However, too often the prescribed punishments and legislated rules fail to provide the motivation to good behavior that is needed. My original solution to this problem was widespread publishing of bad behavior. Publication is available to all and the potentially viral nature of helpful information (even if it serves only to embarrass someone in power) makes it available to the common man. However, this requires tremendous financial power, so my solution has changed.

Shining light in dark places has a strong positive effect among those who are close to a situation, but it rarely creates the kind of story that gets out in a big way. It was the getting out in a big way on which I was relying, but now I see that a smaller venue is important first. Should I happen to find myself in a situation which may get out in a big way, I will happily take that opportunity. Until then, I will be satisfied shining light on the behavior of those in power in order to protect whomever I can from what corruption they may otherwise endure.

I decided to become a lawyer near the beginning of 2017 after a conversation with a man who is now a friend of mine and my lawyer. I let that decision fade away until February of 2018 when my youngest daughter, 16, performed in the musical, Legally Blonde. The character of Vivian switched sides in the middle of the play, finding respect for Elle Woods and letting go of her interest in the boy Elle was chasing, a shallow fellow named Warner. I took Vivian’s change in attitude as a stand for what is right, and it inspired me. I have been an example for others for a long time, and I’m ready to be a little more – a leader, one on whom others rely to make things right.

My goal is to empower and enable people to stand up to whatever forces are unjustly compelling them or otherwise exercising control where there ought to be freedom. Free people can be known because they feel free enough to act on their own decisions. People these days are afraid of the law. They don’t feel competent in understanding it, and so they enslave themselves to the nameless and faceless authorities who often fall prey to Lord Acton’s aphorism. People feel coerced into obeying laws they do not understand, and they don’t have what it takes to get themselves out of the mess this creates. While I am already helping people deal with this, their reliance on authority often eclipses the benefit they can get from further study or exploration or courage. If I were to become a lawyer, I could provide them with the courage to go further. Plus, when I was eight or nine years old, my dad remarked that I’d make a good lawyer. Perhaps I’ll get that done while he’s still around. I’m 48 and he’s 84.