Setting the Standard

We discovered this piece in an early 21st Century Tallahassee, Florida paper. It’s an interesting commentary on the issues and the variant opinions of those times.
Namaste,
Euroswydd, Reiki Clown and Mort

Stunning News…Florida’s children may soon provide the standard by which the rest of the world’s children will measure themselves.
A presumably well informed and mature Governor Jeb Bush has seen fit to extend to his young constituents the duty of deciding what they will do for the rest of their lives as a prerequisite for high school admittance. He and the Florida Republican Party are backing a bill whose mandate requires each and every high school teen-ager to declare the major they will pursue during their High School Years.
Now in my day—those of you easing out of your late 30’s, 40’s, into your 50’s and beyond can relate to this phrase, and for those of you that can’t…don’t worry you will soon enough—we were much less decisive. Many entered college with undeclared majors, many changed their minds midstream. Clearly the physiology and mental acumen of my generation weren’t of a caliber comparable with today’s youth. The accelerated development of these children is truly outstanding—and a little hard to believe. Could there be such a jump in life skills acumen in a single generation? If this trend continues one wonders if those in the lower grades will soon be prepared to declare majors.
On the other hand, if the ability to aptly discern has been there all along how many were frustrated at eight, nine or ten when not taken seriously upon declaring themselves to be future fire fighters, astronauts, artists, nurses or circus acrobats? Could it be that we have been perpetrating a disservice upon our youth allowing them all those years to explore the possibilities before arriving at an informed, well researched decision regarding the rest of their lives?

Computers are to Lawyers as Necessity is to Obligatory

This commentary written by a woman who worked with lawyers and who, during her nearly fifty years at the time of this writing, had on several occasions found it necessary to succumb to the need for their services appeared in “Time Will Tell”. Published on a monthly basis in the 21st century this periodical attempted to dispel myths and humanize those members of professions many perceived as exempt from the set of moral and ethical standards the “masses” were compelled to adhere to.
Happy Grazing,
Euroswydd

Computers are to Lawyers as Necessity is to Obligatory

I’ve always placed lawyers in somewhat the same category as computers. A necessary evil of life. Now to all those sincere—genuinely—people out there who became lawyers out of a real desire to do good and whose moral fiber hasn’t been compromised I apologize. It’s just that you are so few and far between.
Over the years I’ve eyed with skepticism and disgust the alarming amounts of money these bastions of our legal system feel justified in extracting from their clients. The criteria a rather loosely structured billing strategy based on inflation, select other aspects of the current economy, their need for “new and improved” material goods and of course that ever politically correct aspiration…saving for retirement…in such places as Monte Carlo, San Trope or the Riviera.
It’s probably too late to do anything about changing the average aspiring attorney’s gleeful anticipation of indulgence in an affluent lifestyle but tending to be the eternal optimist I can’t help wondering if all this hasn’t sprung from a dysfunctional system capable of repair. In going to the accountant to get that most undesirable and inevitable of yearly spring chores—paying taxes—behind me I became privy to a disturbing revelation. In order to become a lawyer one must pass the BAR (not the revelation) and to be granted the “privilege” of taking this exam the neophyte must fork over a $60,000 fee (The Revelation). And no that is not a typo. To the "average American" whose life is delineated by various dollar amounts due on a cycling four week schedule charging such an amount to take a test must seem obscene. Certainly not the kind of example geared towards encouraging equitable rates. And if the justification—making sure only the worthy attain the status of attorney—was achieved then…well…I’ll leave it at that.
Computers, as previously mentioned, fall into—at least in my mind—the same category as lawyers. Of course being machines contrived and constructed by Human Beings they aren’t actually responsible for their actions. There are times, however, when they do personify controlling,premeditated, calculating, even downright evil traits. Many display extraordinary social ineptitudes, refusing to interface with components from other companies. Blessed or cursed, depending on your viewpoint, with short functional lifespans they demand retirement and replacement every few years upping the monetary ante.
In an apparent marketing strategy presumably aimed at those skeptics still clinging to a non digital lifestyle computers have been imbued with human characteristics. I’m just curious…was it perhaps a lawyer who decided on which characteristics to exemplify?