Justice, Injustice, and the Perspective of a Loving Spouse

This morning, as part of our new fitness regime, my wife and I rode our bikes to our office in Georgetown.  We talked about the visit this weekend of our two oldest kids on the occasion of my wife’s birthday.  Then, as we made our way across Chain Bridge down to the toe path along the C&O canal, I told her about the latest fracas in the blogosphere concerning justice and the proper roles of the prosecutor and defense attorney.

While I have only read a small part of the discussion, and have not participated in any way, I told her how the debate quickly moved past a discussion of the merits of the issue to a debate on the respective qualifications of people to engage in the debate itself.  Though I don’t agree with him on this one, I couldn’t help feeling bad for John Kindley, the victim of what Norm Pattis has termed the “self-righteous fury of the mob,” who was left to defend himself on the basis of his age and experience.  There was also some discussion on the rules for engaging in the debate.

My wife was riding ahead of me so I was not able to see her expression but we have talked about the blogosphere before so that I know generally where she comes out on this.  Her response the first time I ever talked with her about the blogosphere:  “And these are working lawyers? Where do they ever find the time?”

With Key Bridge looming through the trees in front of us as we neared Water Street, I thought how my wife is such a better person than I am.  She is a woman who is so modest that I didn’t know she was going to graduate first in her class from law school – in fact I didn’t even know that she was doing particularly well – until it was announced at her graduation.  And, in cases like this, she is able to rise above the pettiness that afflicts so many of the rest of us poor souls and to see things with remarkable patience, insight, and perspective.

Criminal defense lawyers talk a lot about injustice.  While my wife has never done any criminal work, she has seen first-hand if not the injustice itself, then the effects of the injustice.  She has interviewed hundreds of Iraqis who were tortured by American servicemen and contractors at Abu Ghraib and other prisons throughout Iraq in a case that is now awaiting certiorari by the U.S. Supreme Court.  She interviewed the survivors and family members of the Nisour Square shootings as part of the suit she settled against Blackwater.  And she and her associates have interviewed thousands of crippled American soldiers returning from Afghanistan and Iraq as part of her suit against KBR and Haliburton.

My wife sees the world the way it is, and she likes it anyway.  And her perspective on this one is simple and straightforward:  Get a grip, my dear husband. Let it go. Move on. There are far more important battles, far greater injustices, to spend your time on than this one.

She didn’t need to say that this time but I knew that’s what she was thinking. Let’s see if I can follow her advice.