Check the Facts First

In general, I think people are too quick to state something as truth without really knowing whether they have all the facts straight.

This happens all the time with celebrity gossip. Recently, for example, it was reported that Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith had broken up. The story soon blew up on the internet, and rumor was everywhere being reported as fact. Legitimate news outlets even picked up the story.

Naturally, there was absolutely zero truth to the rumor. Everyone scrambled to update and/or retract stories. I personally don't believe this type of "report first, find out truth later, retract/clarify if necessary" journalism is a good thing. It definitely would not have been acceptable for me to turn in an article for my high school newspaper without checking the facts first, so I'm not sure why real news outlets are skipping this basic step. Turns out, I'm not alone in this criticism.

I think we're so desperate for a story, for an answer, that we're sometimes too quick to respond. The problem, of course, is that there's a danger in providing a false response. Rumor and falsehood, once spread, can have the power of truth. I personally can't imagine being a celebrity and having rumors about myself posted as truth all the time. I'm highly critical of myself and my work, so I know this type of careless media scrutiny would drive me mad. Rumor is a powerful thing, and it has the potential to ruin lives.

The Salon article linked above got me thinking, why are we so impatient? Why can't we pause and figure out if something is true before repeating it as fact? 

For the media, this answer is easy - money. Scandal sells, and the first person to spit out the story is the winner.

I'm guilty of speaking too quickly myself, of course, albeit in a slightly different way. My family took a trip to Pennsylvania this past week, and we spent one day at Gettysburg. While standing on the Confederate side of Pickett's Charge, my mom asked me if I knew who had ordered the doomed assault. Without thinking, I said Longstreet.

The correct answer, of course, is Robert E. Lee. Longstreet was actually the one who predicted the assault's  failure. So what I should have told my mother was, "I'm not sure. Maybe the helpful sign next to the fence will have more information."

But I didn't. It was just such an instant reaction for me to give an answer without thinking about whether I had remembered my history correctly. Like a gossip blog, I was so eager to say something that I didn't bother to fact-check.

So, my new goal for myself is to think a little more carefully before responding to a question or talking about history/news/current events (and to stop caring so much about celebrity gossip, but that's a whole other problem). After all, I don't have all the answers, and that's okay.

I just finished reading The Color Purple, by Alice Walker, and there's a line towards the end that I particularly like: "You ast yourself one question, it lead to fifteen...It didn't take long to realize I didn't hardly know nothing." Because in the end, to paraphrase Socrates, the truly wise person is the one who knows his own ignorance.

Forget Regret

The most important part of getting on with your life is learning to live without regrets.

Unfortunately, it's also one of the hardest.

Every day, we have to make decisions based on the knowledge and insights we have at the time. (For an analysis of choice and the human decision-making process, I recommend Jonah Lehrer's How We Decide. Truly a fascinating read).

Sadly, 20/20 hindsight is a powerful thing. I know I'm not alone when it comes to questioning choices I made and thinking about things I could have done differently.

Sometimes I look back and wish I had majored in something different in college, mostly because I think intellectual property law is fascinating, but I lack the science background necessary for the patent bar. I wish I had tried out more artistic extracurriculars in college, mostly because I would love to have a broader social network of college friends.

The interesting thing about regret, however, is that we only seem to have regrets about missed chances, about decisions that led to less favorable results. When things work out, it's much easier to just move on.

Take this attorney, who now regrets getting involved in a "baby selling" conspiracy. My first thought was, "Of course she regrets getting involved in something probably illegal! She got caught!" On second thought, I wondered, "Would she have these same regrets if she hadn't been caught?"

I think it's hard to say. It's true that you almost never hear about people harboring serious regrets over decisions that led to good things. It's probably also true that people rarely harbor regrets over questionable choices that worked out okay in the end. I'd like to think that most people (particularly attorneys) would feel guilty about breaking the law, but I'm not sure even that's 100% true.

In the end, however, bad choices and good choices are both choices. We can't know beforehand how things will turn out. Regret assumes that making some other decision would have led to a better result, and but we can hardly ever know that with any certainty.

I do know that I'm working on leaving the past in the past. I need to look forwards, not backwards. As Shakespeare would say, "What's gone and what's past help should be past grief."

On Unemployment

I took the Michigan bar exam last week. So did 1000 other people.

Which begs the question: Does Michigan really need 1000 new lawyers this year? The answer is almost certainly no.

The legal market is terrible everywhere, and Michigan is probably among the worst. I think it's a combination of the bad overall economy plus more law school grads plus technology changes that make it possible for law firms and clients to accomplish more work with fewer actual attorneys. I'm not saying efficiency is a bad thing. I'm just saying it's perhaps partially responsible for my current unemployment.

Trying to find a job has been brutal. I wish I'd kept track of how many resumes and cover letters I've sent. I know I'm qualified. I just need to find the right fit.

I keep reading articles about how my generation is lazy. The other day my mom overheard an older man at the eye doctor lamenting the fact that so many "young people" are unemployed. As if it's completely our fault.

I don't think my generation is lazy. I know plenty of hardworking yet unemployed people, and I generally include myself in that group. My sister just graduated from college and has been applying for jobs all summer with no bites. My cousin was recently laid off from his job at a school due to privatization. About half of my law school class graduated without a job.

We're willing to move to a new city or state. We're willing to earn low wages and receive crap benefits. We're willing to work long hours and get little to no credit for our hard work. We're willing to hit the ground running. All we ask is that the job be somewhat related to our education, that people recognize that a college or graduate degree isn't just a piece of paper.

But everywhere, it's the same story. You're overqualified. You're underqualified. You don't already live here and we don't believe you when you say you want to live here. It's getting to the point where a lot of people looking for work are saying, "What else can I do? I'm doing everything I possibly can."

Maybe we need to recapture that "American" pioneering spirit, but most of us weren't taught that way. We were raised to join some sort of industry, to find a company/organization/etc. that fit our training and talents. We weren't taught to be entrepreneurs.

Law school in particular did not teach me to be an entrepreneur. My coursework and internships were geared towards working in a firm or for the government. That's always what I planned to do. Over the course of the summer, I've realized I need to broaden my horizons.

I know I have to make opportunity happen for myself. When I figure out how that works, I'll get back to you.