i admit it -- i'm a hippie, too...

i think all of us law students would, to varying degrees, agree that the experience of law school has changed us. i'm not talking about all that crap they told us at first year orientation, either. yeah yeah yeah -- that whole "you'll never think about things the same way again" or "you won't be able to jaywalk without thinking about contributory negligence" is true, but all of that is more just functional/job-training-type stuff. i'm thinking specifically about the various ways that intense educational mind-fucking can really cause you to figure out some stuff about yourself.

for example, krista and i were waiting for the bus yesterday, talking about stuff, and she commented that she thought it was very amusing that i've got this new hippie presence in my life. so i said, "how come?" and she said, "don't you remember when we were first becoming friends? how much shit you gave me for being a hippie? you were all, 'you're one of those hippies, aren't you? damn it, i'm not sure if we can be friends now.'" i had, of course, forgotten about this.

and why had i forgotten about this?

because i think although my politics have always been left of center, law school has enabled me to better articulate why i feel about things the way i do, where i stand on things, what i'm willing to sacrifice, what i'm not willing to sacrifice, where i think compromise is the best course. in essence, law school has caused me to embrace my inner hippie.

none of who i am now is at all inconsistent with who i was prior to law school. and i'm not at all surprised at how my intellectual development has panned out in the last year and a half. truth be told, i think i'm much better off in a lot of ways. more rational, less of a firecracker. more informed, more able to admit when i don't know, less afraid of uncertainty. and more satisfied that where my politics lie is where they should be.

so, hooray for law school, hooray for hippies, hooray for good people!