Team B has spoken

Yesterday I went to the Quaker meetinghouse for a Buddhist time - some meditation and a CD of a lecture by Pema Chodron.

There was a woman there I know from Meeting who organized the whole thing, two of her friends, and another from Meeting.

It was so enjoyable - we also had lots of time to chat. And there we were representing the service occupations - a teacher, a nurse, a social worker, an occupational therapist, and a former teacher now attorney. The last one (also the one who organized it) was my age when she went to law school, and she had some great advice and perceptions to share.

As I was driving away, all of them said: "You need to go to law school."

They may well be right. As the attorney said, "Once you go to law school, nobody talks down to you." Sure, there are the lawyer jokes and all that, but lawyers are held in much higher regard than teachers. Suddenly after law school she was treated with respect, "It's funny," she said, "After law school people assumed I could do anything. I hadn't changed at all since I was a teacher!"

Now that I'm no longer in my 20's, I am treated with more respect than I used to be - it doesn't drive me crazy anymore that people don't listen to me. So that's not the real issue. The real issue is that my opinions come from the perspective not just of me, but of a non-mainstream point of view. If I'm dismissed, so are the others who are powerless.

Three years is a long damn time for law school, but it might well be worth it. And Team B decided it's best for me. I'm all about the team decisions.