Alex Fung is a good actor, and a very charismatic one. It got me thinking about how the mind of a lawyer works.
I do not know why the friendship between Edwin and me seems distant recently. I respect the fact that he is now my boss and i know there are certain boundaries that i must not cross. I will not make use of this friendship to get special treatments or gather extra information. In fact, i made a decision when he was assigned to lead this team, to help him settle in as quickly as possible with the team and help him gain their trust. Because i truly have trust and faith in this person.
Dec, 2015. I took leave in the last week of Dec and first three days of Jan 2016. That was when Samuel transit into primary school. I remember we had a conflict and we were not really talking. Siyun noticed that i was avoiding him and asked me why. I didn't tell her anything because i know by now that she will make use of conflicts to her advantage. I hold on to the belief that she didn't mean it. Because i truly believe in the good of human beings. But she persisted to tell me "i feel you do not have to listen or help Edwin, he is so harsh on you because he knows you won't desert him. He is smart but "i forgot the word" so he will always give chances to even people like Jenny Goh". And most recently, she told me deliberately, "wah, look at the way you colour, how can you be a mother" the moment Edwin is in the meeting room. I was angry. Angry because she has no right to question me being a mother. And angry because she actually said that to show she is on the same wavelength as Edwin. She has heard Edwin asked how can a person like Serene be a mother. To make use of a friend to gain favour from your boss is despicable. And then, she told others that it's easy to fish information from me. Which is ridiculous. I have seen and heard from herself how she manipulate Serene with Heng Chuan. I'm shocked but.. i like her when she is normal. There were so many other incidents, based on my observations. But this time, I am angry. I felt hurt too but i still believe God is in control. So, I'd like to think Siyun do treat me as a friend..when she is not trying to impress anyone.
Anyway, back to thinking like a lawyer. I am a scatterbrain on road directions, clumsy.. but my intuitions and logic are almost always accurate. Plus, i have slight OCD behaviour, my memory is not that bad. I might not remember where i put my things sometimes BUT remember what people said. I value truth, loyalty, and sincerity.
I wish i knew more about the career of a lawyer in my teens. So that i would have bloody study harder and got into a damn Junior college. I gave up the chance to do A'levels and went to a polytechnic to get an Engineering diploma instead. Because i needed to earn my keeps and also because my O'levels results suck. All i know then, was to quickly earn my keeps so that my parents won't have to support me anymore.
So sometimes when i argue in my head and i say it aloud to Edwin, i was really trying to see from the other person's point of view and understand the whole picture so that we can solve the problem in a most logical way. I am not trying to find excuses for the person. But he always cut me off by raising his voice and providing a far-fetched analogy. This is when i do not see the need to continue sharing my opinion. Because it would be fruitless and I do not want to waste time arguing.
Seriously.. i would be a good lawyer.
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Thinking like a lawyer also means that you can make arguments on any side of any question. Many of you resist that teaching, thinking that we are stripping you of your personal principles and convictions, transforming you into a hired gun. On the contrary, learning how to make arguments on different sides of a question is learning that there are arguments on both sides, and learning how to hear them. That is the core of the liberal value of tolerance, but also the precondition for order in a society that chooses to engage in conflict with words rather than guns. It is our best hope for rational deliberation, for solving problems together not based on eradicating conflict, but for channeling it productively and cooperating where possible.
Thinking like a lawyer means combining realism with idealism. It means believing in the possibility and the desirability of both order and justice, and in the capacity of the law to help us achieve them. But it also means knowing the full range of human conduct, and understanding that grand principles will remain paper principles unless they are implemented with an eye to human incentives. Nevertheless, in the end the idea of law, and the ideals that it stands for, is what lawyers represent. It is much harder to be an idealist when you have all the reasons to be a cynic.
Thinking like a lawyer is thinking like a human being, a human being who is tolerant, sophisticated, pragmatic, critical, and engaged. It means combining passion and principle, reason and judgment.
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