with a very beautiful and wonderful young lady, and the subject of the conversation was why I never really pursued my childhood dream of going to law school.
In short, I explained to my friend that I could never be a practicing attorney, because I have far too much respect for justice.
Ask your average 25-35 year old male if, right now at this moment, he'd rather experience the best sex of his life or the freedom to open his bedroom door and step outside onto his front porch. We're not talking about white-bread vanilla sex with your wife of seventeen years, we're talking about "bending a Brazilian supermodel over the hood of your paid-for Ferrari convertible with the Grand Canyon in the background" kind of sex...versus the mere freedom to walk outside on the front porch.
About 99% of all Americans would choose sex over freedom. That's because they don't truly understand freedom. Right now, one in every one hundred American males is incarcerated. RIGHT NOW. Ask a man that is locked in a cage the size of your bathroom every night if he'd rather have doggy-style with a supermodel, or be allowed to open his door and walk outside...and see what his response to that question is.
Now, take a look at our "justice" system. Today, a man was freed from a Texas prison on a PR bond after serving more than half of his life in a cage the size of your bathroom...for a crime that has been proven that he did not commit, via DNA evidence. He was supposed to have been freed yesterday, but this man who has been caged since the age of 18 and is now 35 had an "outburst" while waiting to see a judge, and was locked up for an additional night. Sorry, but I'd be doing more than screaming if it were me.
Anyhow, moving right along. I can't go a week without reading in our Houston paper about how someone has been released from prison after serving a decade or more on a wrongful conviction. Not a "wrongful conviction" in terms of some legal technicality that allowed them to skate after robbing/raping/killing someone, but a "wrongful conviction" in terms of the wrong person being convicted. Seriously, this kind of thing is popping up on a weekly basis.
I thank God that I've never been charged with a felony, and 27 hours is the longest I've ever had to spend in county jail. However, as my "arrest v. dismissed charges" ratio will certainly attest to, I have most certainly been wrongfully arrested in the past. Sadly, because the officers claim to have acted in "good faith" (and while the evidence proves innocence, it cannot prove the officer's intent), there is no legal recourse. As I have never been actually wrongfully convicted of any charges I've fought, I have no avenue of seeking redress or recompense for these state-sanctioned kidnappings.
However, I do understand how truly great it feels to be able to step outside on my front porch. On that note, I think I'll go outside and have a cigarette while I listen to the bullfrogs in my pool. I sincerely hope that you are able to do the same. Keep rockin' in the free world, and remember that you never truly know what you have until it's gone...
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So true about not appreciating what you have until it's gone, but I just asked a 23yr old male the question you posed in the 3rd paragraph. He looked at me like I was retarded and chose the latter
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