Who am I? That is a question many ask. What makes us? Our surroundings? Our current situation? Our past? Our education? Our family? Our friends? A little bit of all of this- like a deep south Louisiana gumbo?
Who am I? For me; maybe it’s a little freckle-faced boy riding in the back of his papa’s old GMC short bed pick-up truck on a cattle farm. The driver side covered with tobacco spit from papa Alfred’s daily habit of Red Man chewing tobacco. Oh, how many times as a child when I was stung by a wasp only to have papa Alfred pull his chew out his mouth and slap it on my arm or wherever I was stung. Is that past who I am? Well, it may be part of it.
Or maybe it’s that same freckle-faced boy sitting in church, week after week for nearly a decade because that is what his Godly mother and Father made sure their only son did (go to church). Then one day, to the apparent surprise of all, something sunk in my thick skull; nearly ten years in the making. The story of a man named Jesus who came from Heaven to earth as God’s only son to die for me penetrated my heart and changed me. (I can say with certainty of the change because now at 50 years old I still confess this Jesus as my Savior and seek daily to live or him- now that’s coming from a 50-year-old trial attorney). And if you want to know more about that experience I would be thrilled to tell you the full story…. But back to this blog! Who am I?
You may have asked yourself that question before- it’s a question worth asking. Even more; it’s a question that demands an answer (to some extent). You, my friend, are a unique Human being and you are someone- someone special, someone unique and someone beyond explanation.
We are complex and maybe that is what makes us so special.
I remember sitting in an old rustic barn in 2011 near Dubois Wyoming listening to what many call the greatest trial lawyer of our time, speak about this uniqueness. Sure, I thought! I’m just a Red Neck from Louisiana who loves to go into the modern-day fighting pit we call the courtroom and duke it out for those who are less fortunate and poor and stand on the edge of helplessness against the powerful/rich who feed off the backs of the working class and poor. I do this without regret or insult because I follow a man named Jesus who taught us to protect those who needed protecting! It’s simple for me. But this huge man, Gerry Spence said look at your thumbs; so, I did. Then he said there are no other thumbs like that with those prints in all the earth- past or future. You are unique, the people you fight for are unique and special.
So who am I??? And if I might ask — who are you?
