Criminal Law

The other day in class my criminal law professor gave a 30 minute soliloquy in response to a student's question on note taking. Part of his droning included a particularly intriguing rhetorical question regarding the structure of the class itself: "why would I waste class time telling you what I think is important?" Hmm... waste time... telling us what is important... Interesting concept for a first year law class.

What's more interesting though is that all of us could probably say the same thing in most contexts. If I were to be more honest with myself (and myacquaintancess) I'm sure I could preface the majority of my conversations with a similar disclaimer -- "Don't worry folks - I won't waste any of your time telling you anything important. It will all be nonsense."

Just think of all the casual "hellos" and "how are yous" and "how was your break" and "your first week back at school" remarks. And then think really hard for second and try to remember what you told everyone when they asked you. Did you tell them any piece of your true feelings or just fill the air with vague niceties? We often respond with nonsense.

Even with our close friends and family it seems like it takes an awfully long time to get around to anything other than nonsense. And maybe it deserves a criminal-law-disclaimer. Maybe we should highlight the ridiculousness of the things we say.

"Listen folks -- I'm not going waste your time telling you anything important. I'll drone on and on about things that really don't matter at all. I'll try to capture you with my wit. I'll debate until I've lost interest. But important stuff? Hmm... maybe not today. No need to take notes."

I'm sure (if you're honest) you agree that our common paths to communication often leave us feeling as though we have not communicated at all. Our insecurities reign and we skip anything that might bring to light our true selves. In my case, there are few who hear my deep down inner thoughts, because it's much easier to stick to the oh-so-comfortable patterns of speaking in verses of nonsense.

As for my friends -- the only ones who hear something that might not sound like complete nonsense -- well, they're the most patient of people I know. And they must be, because the nonsense goes on until the late-night or the early morning hours -- until I'm suffocated by my desire to withhold all that's really important -- until the last man standing has put up with all the ridiculousness of a full day of droning and is still listening for some truth. That's when the life of the disclaimer fades fast, a soul unfolds, and criminal law finishes out for the day.