Life Lessons Learned Along the Way: Law and Peace
We continue our series of personal, impactful stories that have shaped how we practice law.
We were driving a pitch-black mountain road at three o’clock in the morning. A vehicle appeared behind us, and lights began to flash. Orders were barked that I figured translated roughly to “pull over or else.”
It was the year before I went to law school. I had left Washington, D.C. a few months earlier and was working in a remote part of Mexico. Without a lick of Spanish, I had come down to help an organization that was empowering underserved communities.
Now, a bunch of us were crammed into a small car on our way back from a night out in a neighboring town. My privileged mind raced. Are they going to nail us for double-buckling? Two young men who appeared to be police officers approached our car.
“Hand over the keys. Now, all of you get out. Give me your phones. How much money do you have?”
I’m sure our friend, the young town doctor, has saved many lives since I last saw him. It’s quite possible he saved ours that night. “My uncle is so and so,” apparently a well-known figure in local politics, he said.
Their tone changed. They returned our things, walked back to their vehicle, and drove off.
There was a news story last month where five beheaded bodies were found next to a road not so far from where we’d been.
I’m grateful to live in a land of laws, even if we’re not always happy with the application.
It’s far better than living in a state of arbitrariness like so many folks with whom we share our world.