Date:         Tue, 19 Jun 2001 23:26:52 -0400
Reply-To:     "Horace K. Sawyer" <hksawyer@CATT.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         "Horace K. Sawyer" <hksawyer@CATT.COM>
Subject:      Re: Deeply Saddened and Troubled -- thanks
In-Reply-To:  <b8.173f2316.2861622b@aol.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed

Sorry you've had bad experiences. It becomes very tiresome day in and day
out fighting against the perception of 'bad' lawyers in order to try to
help people. If only I had more than one life to live, perhaps I could
really make a difference. Perhaps I could change your mind -- as to myself,
if nothing else.
What makes it so tough for me is that being a real lawyer is a position of
high trust. The client must trust the advice and guidance explicitly. If
the trust relationship is not there from the beginning, or becomes broken,
like a marriage, the relation cannot function properly, and cannot flower.
Who trusts lawyers? Obviously, a small minority. Hence, I am forced to pay
for the sins of my brethren, while only the passing of time provides a
report card on *my* character and ability. Character -- it is important. A
bad character in a person signifies the person is not worthy of trust. Your
blanket implication of disingenuousness was an direct strike against a
person's character. The old nursery rhyme is a lie -- words do hurt. They
kill, they maim, they scar, and they destroy.
Thank you for offering the apology. I hope you didn't feel compelled to do
so because of the list. But it is obvious that your perception is shared by
a substantial number of the public. So, in a way, you've become like the
politician; the very thing you've railed against, your opinion mirroring
that of the masses. The question is whether public opinion can be trusted
to be right. History shows that it cannot.
HK