We Hold These Truths - Paperback

I am a Michigan baby boomer and was an excellent runner in my youth. I was successful enough to be considered a star, but not successful enough for anyone but my coach and me to remember forty years later. I was unanimously chosen by my high school classmates to receive the American Legion medal for courage, integrity, and leadership, but when I asked why, none of my nominating classmates could give me a single concrete reason, which believe it or not, explains a lot about me. Collegiate studies in Geneva and legal instruction in Rome left me half Protestant and half Roman Catholic, which may account for my conflicted nature. I am also a quarter Republican, a quarter Democrat, and mostly independent, which proves I am not very loyal, much less proficient in math, and leaves me cranky about the future of America's political system. I fall within the remnant of a dying breed-the experienced civil trial lawyer. I have been frequently sighted in the cafeteria on the second floor of the Everett Dirksen federal courthouse in Chicago and on the steps of the century-old courthouse in the Upper Peninsula's Crystal Falls. With fewer cases to try these days, a trial lawyer must be a circuit rider-just as in the days of Lincoln. Maybe this means that the glory days of law are not over. I am an optimist, so I would like to think this is true, but I don't really believe it is so. I am partial to daughters and grandsons. If asked, my wife and clients would have mostly positive things to say about me. Go ahead, ask them-I do all the time. My opponents probably have negative things to report, but no one I know would ask them. Besides, in my experience, they are always wrong. For some reason I favor $300 suits and $800 shoes. When golfing, I enjoy the first, eighteenth, and nineteenth holes and merely endure the holes in between. You would be wise to bet that I am older than I look but to predict that I will act younger, especially when around my grandsons. I am working on being less didactic, but worry that the aging process is counteracting my efforts. I like to stoke a fire and throw stones in a calm pond, but sincerely hope that my work will warm and entertain rather than antagonize and annoy. I like to hear "cheers" and "blessings" and wish you both.