At night, you might hear him crying out from the darkness of his prison cell. “Listen to me!” he screams. “Listen!” His voice is distant, his message muddled. Only towards dawn do you begin to hear him clearly. “I need help!” you hear him scream. “I’m dying in here!”
As the sun rises, you gaze upon the lonely prisoner. He looks familiar. At first, you don’t understand the irony. Then you look more closely. With a shock, you realize that the prisoner looks identical to the architect who built the prison—the same pale complexion, the same receding hairline, the same overweight build. Could it be? Yes, it is.
You want to look away. For it was this very man—this same lonely, besieged prisoner—who both supervised the prison’s construction and then allowed its walls to close in around himself. How can you pity such a blundering fool? How can you pity a man who possesses the keys to his own freedom but lacks the imagination to figure out how to work the lock?
You can’t. It's time to go. Leaving the prison, you emerge into the sunshine of your own far-from-perfect life, where you make the best of things from day to day even though you are grateful for the weekends.
[Like this post? It's one of many included in my book How to Feed a Lawyer (And Other Irreverent Oberservations from the Legal Underground). Details here.]Related posts:
1. Types of Lawyers #8: The Partner Who Golfs
2. Types of Lawyers #4: The Lawyer Who Carries Another Lawyer's Briefcase
3. The "Types of Lawyers" Category--all types-of-lawyers posts
Eek! Sounds familiar.
Posted by: Yeoman Lawyer | October 07, 2004 at 08:38 AM
Yikes! I recognize that one. Worst of all, I think that guy is serving a life sentence.
Posted by: Yeoman | January 30, 2005 at 07:24 AM
I was right, he is serving a life sentence! Or at least he's still serving.
Posted by: Yeoman | June 30, 2009 at 09:00 PM