Balancing Zappa and Norman Vincent Peale.
UNDERDOG - Criminal/Drunk Driving Defense in Maryland, Virginia, DC:
At first blush, a criminal defense colleague whom I admire very much comes across as laid back in a powerful and relaxed way. I remarked how I find this inspiring in my lifetime movement towards harmony and away from the imbalance of intensity and much disharmony. My friend quickly dispelled the notion that he always is fully laid back; it takes him much work to get there from many of the same frustrations I often feel when some clients remain in stratospheric left field just one day before trial, and when so much of the criminal justice system is so unjust.
Daily, I work to bridge the gap between the harmony that is essential to being powerful and feeling fulfilled on the one hand, and the turmoil that surrounds me in the form of war, inhumanity, indifference towards the plight of other humans and non-humans, an excessively unjust criminal justice system, and opposing lawyers and witnesses who would think nothing of stabbing me in the back if there were no countervailing repercussions for doing so.
I write more here about achieving a more harmonized approach to life, not out of embracing any new age concept, but out of necessity. Applying this approach to the practice of criminal defense, I think of the below-described imperfect parallel to Freud’s id, ego, and superego, where the ego balances the id and superego. I call it the trio of Zappa, my above-described laidback friend, and the man with the flies.
Frank Zappa inspires me tremendously, not only as a creative genius, but also as an important example of how it is possible to be a caring and nurturing parent — including requiring that a minor child’s homework be finished before going to the movies with a friend — without surrendering to mainstream society, American…