6 | March/April 2022 | BAEC Bulletin ***
almost the entire world appears to be coming together to oppose Putin’s aggressions, feed and house the refugees, and to impose sanctions against Russia. In other words, we are joining to defend democracy and to uphold the rule of law. In the face of unspeakable evil, we universally condemn Russia’s actions, and we reach out to embrace the courageous Ukrainian people. We hope that the warm welcome given to Ukrainian refugees is a model for how the world welcomes all refugees, including those of color. This humanitarian response does give me hope. There is light.
My wife, Linda, suggested this next topic. That I am even including it here probably reveals that I am not doing as good of a job at home as I should. Linda urged me to write about how difficult it is to be married to a lawyer. I recognize that I have long taken Linda for granted. But I never really considered that it could be difficult to be married to me, because I am a lawyer. How many spouses share Linda’s perspective that it is difficult to be married to a lawyer? We are trained for three years in law school, and for many more years after, to “think like a lawyer,” which as far as I can tell means to be critical, to find the weakness in our opponent’s argument or the court’s rationale, to tear down rather than to build. Such thinking hardly leads to a nurturing environment. We aspire to perfection and we reasonably expect excellence. And most of us can’t turn it off at 5:00 pm. Many of us work too hard; we are self-centered; we believe our worries are more significant than the worries of those around us; our priorities (for a lack of a better term) take priority; we tend not to save our energy for our families; our patience is often exhausted when we get home. We always have to be right. In my religious tradition we are now observing Lent. It is customary to give up a favorite something for Lent — dessert, cookies, chocolate — you get the idea. A better exercise of discipline, it seems to me, would involve taking on a new practice during Lent, like regular prayer or meditation. During this Lenten period, therefore, I am trying to spend time each day contemplating the ways in which I bring work home, being mindful of what my wife does for me, and practicing gratitude for what I have. I’ll let you know how I do.
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I mentioned in my last letter to you that I am constantly searching for sources of light in this pandemic darkness, or as I call it “all this nonsense,” I’ve found a beacon, in all places, in the cap of my iced tea bottle this afternoon — a quotation from the famous Greek philosopher Anonymous. While we emerge from the lockdown and resume more full operations, I urge you to remember this bottled wisdom, “if you are too busy to laugh, you are too busy.” Our virtual existence has left us doing all the work of work, without any of the fun of work. As we return to many of our previous practices, let’s have some fun again. •
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I feel as if I should say something about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, or as we used to say, The Ukraine. As I write this letter, the United Nations estimates that over 1.2 million Ukrainians have left their homes to seek refuge in neighboring countries. This refugee crisis has occurred in only three weeks’ time. To give you a sense of perspective, more people have fled Ukraine in three weeks than Americans have died from COVID in the two years of the pandemic. Vladimir Putin shows no signs of easing his invasion. The situation grows more desperate by the day, and the twin specters of cyber and nuclear warfare cannot be ignored. I see little foundation for hope, except…
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