Tuesday, December 9, 2008

the many faces of humanity

There are days when I am reminded of how much I love my clients. Today is one of those days. This morning I kept a man out of jail and as we were leaving the courtroom, he was grateful and sad that our contact was coming to an end. He promised to bring coffee for the legal assistants to say thank you. He is my first client to actually dress for court in a suit and tie (with these crazy woven, pointy toed, and tasseled loafers). Then, this afternoon, I spent 20 minutes discussing a DWI case with a man who was freaking out that the maximum sentence he could receive included jail time. When I told him I had never seen anyone go to jail for a first offense DWI, you would've thought that I had given him a million dollars (even after telling him that there was a possibility of jail). It is easy to forget that contact with the criminal justice system is terrifying for many people. Their gratitiude for helping them through unknown territory is incredibly rewarding. Just another day when I'm reminded that I love my job.

On a totally unrelated note, is anyone else completely repulsed by this new Wii game where people live lives through avatars while sitting on their couch? I know there are things like Second Life out there, but the commercials of women lounging on the couch living their life through a Nintendo is freaking me out a little. I mean, pretending to fish for hours? Dude.