Youthful dreams

When I was younger, I had this mission in life, besides marrying the man I loved, I wanted to be a Lawyer, that too.. a criminal defense lawyer for juveniles. I had these grand plans of being the saviour of the misguided youth who would be tortured by the establishment for petty misdemeanours and be condemned to a life of crime.
I wanted to be the 'champion of the oppressed' and a guiding light to show them the right path. I used to be very interested in drug addiction, its causes and its effects. Had a few friends who were addicts and I would lament about the way they would waste away. The times that they would indulge in petty crime to satisfy their addiction and the severe punishment meted to them was painful.
Anyways, the convent school that I had studied in for 14 years didn't want me at any cost to obtain my degree from its hallowed portals. They figured that 14 years of torture at my hands was too much for any mortal to bear, even to those wedded to the Lord.
Natural progression of events led me to join the LLB programme. For the first two years we crammed up all the subjects that are normally offered in a three year degree course. The third year had only law subjects, the Indian Constitution, Law of Torts, Criminal Law, Law of Contracts, The Indian Penal Code... In these years, I developed this crazy liking for John Grisham and his books. I loved them. I thought Pelican Brief was brilliant along with The Firm.
The romance with law though waned even before I completed my studies.. I guess some of it had to do with us learning 'logical fallacy' as a subject.
:) We were taught how to logically state an untruth, or rather the language employed to do so. We learned in case studies that justice hasn't much to do with anything as much as the skill of a prosecutor or defence counsel, the precedence set by similar cases and the comprehending capacities of the judge.
John Grisham's quote comes to mind:- 'When you were in law school you had some noble idea what a lawyer should be. A champion of individual rights; a defender of the constitution; a guardian of the oppressed; an advocate of your client's principles. Then after you practice for six months you realise you are nothing but hired guns. Mouthpieces for sale to the highest bidder, available to anybody, any crook, any sleazebag with enough maoney to pay your outrageous fees. Nothing shocks you. It's supposed to be an honorable profession but you'll meet so many crooked lawyers you'll want to quit and find an honest job. And yeah, you'll get cynical. And it's sad. really.'
Not that I ever got there.. from where I could use this and say, I know exactly how this feels.. but this stayed with me and whenever I think of this profession I cant help but remember this.
And I do hope that there are those who stayed the way they began, that their youthful dream did not resign itself to the commonplace.