If one does not try, one cannot lose. The truly ignoble status is not "loser," but "bystander." Error, failure and defeat are the tutors of all who earnestly aspire over a lifetime. A lifetime as a mere bystander is a shameful thing.
—M.A. Smith

©2005 Law Office of Mark A. Smith, LLC.
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Reflections

Harmony, agreement, and understanding are the periodic results of focused effort and sacrifice: they are, as Porgy sings in Porgy and Bess, a "Sometimes Thing." Conflict, dispute, and misunderstanding are life's defaults. Combine that with the fact that we live in a complex, populous, competitive society, and one can see the importance of lawyers. Contrary to popular notions, without lawyers there would actually be greater social division and harsher and far more destructive conflicts among our citizenry. Without lawyers there would be more killing, taking, and exploitation—not less; the strong would prey on the weak with impunity. Without lawyers we would be reduced to "self-help," which wouldn't be a problem if we were all truly rational, self-controlled, unselfish sorts. Lawyers are the lubricant of our society. They harness and guide conflict; they promote restraint while simultaneously allowing one to strike out at an adversary, a perceived transgressor, an offender. They help us construct our lives, exploit grand opportunity, and protect what we have gained. The better the lawyer, the better the client's chance is of obtaining a favorable outcome. Hence, the notion of equality under the law is a fiction.

A law-abiding, conventionally responsible life is a worthwhile achievement, but not necessarily the highest achievement available to a human being. From my vantage, we are as likely, ultimately, to come to demise as a society because of too much conformity as we are because of transgression, rebellion, or lawlessness. As G. K. Chesterton said, "A dead thing goes with the stream. Only a living thing can go against it."