smoo law 1/6! <3

three months of learning about justice. do you remember the very first day? where raw thrill sat on my tongue, and flushed through all of me. three months later, i think that eagerness has not been lost upon us. whether it’s time for the sun to rise or the moon to dance, the sheer gratitude, of having this privilege to study, always swims deep inside. im making the rash decision my parents first said not to make. im following only the half-impulsive gut feeling telling me this is where i am meant to be. and everyone who made it possible. thank you :-)

im pacing up and down the steps, half blind and half seeing. you and i are starting to understand, how did we get here. who wrote these laws? who makes good and evil? who says what’s right and wrong? who created my past and my future, before me, and for me? 

im walking on tiptoe, treading the expensive grounds of the rich and powerful. now everyone is clapping as he walks down the red carpet. he’s singapore’s top lawyer, they say; especially successful, they say; has represented coal tycoons and billionaires, they say. he stops, smiles at the crowd, clears his throat. ‘i have dedicated my life to defending justice.’ every word is crisp, perfectly enunciated. instantly everyone stands, shouting and screaming his name. i slide under the fancy tables where no one can see me. what is justice? my eyes meet yours. who defines justice? who is it defined for? 

i sit up and bang my head against the table. the answer was staring at me all along: you. you define justice, you decide who is it for. as a lawyer, you will always have to side. you decide how success looks like. 

this makes you think. we're young and dumb, you say, living in a meshwork of laws that we don’t understand. you ask me, eyes earnest, our criminal justice system, our statutes and regulations, our contracts… whose interests do they protect? the law governs our rights -- but do our rights govern the law? how can we create new case precedent? how can we rewrite the stars? 

i drop some stars into your pocket. i hope you use them to light your path. we’re still walking, half blind and half seeing, with the foolish, blind hope that maybe, with a spright of starlight and vagary of fortune, the clouds will crack open and rain down justice. and there will be good again.