Hurricane Harvey And Humanity

Don’t leave your humanity at the door. And please don’t just save it for emergencies.

(Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Watching the devastation in Houston, I’m both heartbroken and touched.  I’m heartbroken at the sheer devastation.  But, what really makes me happy is that Houstonians are helping each other out.

Neighbors are helping neighbors.  News crews saving people stuck in trucks in flooded waters.  The Cajun Navy came from Louisiana to help rescue people.  Anyone with a boat appears to have come to help.

That tradition of helping extends to law schools.  During Hurricane Katrina, the University of Houston Law Center hosted two law schools, the Law Center itself and Loyola New Orleans.  Professor Seth Chandler, then associate dean at the Law Center, inspired the whole thing.  You can read about it here.  It’s nice to see law schools focusing on humanity and not just the bottom line.

The Law Center itself is no stranger to catastrophe.  It flooded in Tropical Storm Alison.  Its law library flooded, leaving its book collection (and a prominent admiralty collection) completely underwater.

With Hurricane Harvey, as Staci Zaretsky’s post points out, area law students have not lost their humanity and have been helping people.  The quote from Reed Fryar demonstrates that Houston students haven’t left their common sense and values at the door.

I find all this heartwarming.   But I’m also sad that these acts of compassion aren’t as common, highlighted, and rewarded when there isn’t a natural disaster.

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So, I write this column in dedication of those who have shown compassion.  To Professor Chandler, who clearly busted ass to ensure the smooth operation of two law schools during Katrina; to law students helping out others in time of need, and; to faculty members who aren’t worrying more about their course coverage and are worried more about their students being safe.

To those of us not experiencing this huge catastrophe, there are some fundamental lessons to take away.  First, life has enough tragedies and challenges without people needlessly heaping on drama for no reason.  The whole notion that the Houston law schools are focusing on assuring members of their community are safe rather than scheduling weekend makeup classes or something crazy like that is important.

Second, there is always something more significant than you.  This is something that law professors don’t always get, but it’s true.  There’s more to life than trying to demonstrate how big-time you are, or how you’re the most awesome student.  Happiness is not something that comes from all of that.  Sometimes it takes a traumatic event to shake us to the foundation and realize that.  I can’t remember who said it, but someone once said that no one ever was on their deathbed wishing they had written another article or billed another hour.

Third, as one of my friends once said: “Legal education is directed primarily to develop a set of skills and changing the way you think — not necessarily what you think.  It is not devoted solely to pouring endless rules and information into your head as you roll along the academic assembly line…”  But law schools can’t compel ethical change in you, although we demand a deeper level of professionalism.  Thus, legal training can’t compel you to be a decent human being, or change you from being a decent human being.  Unless you let it.

In short, don’t leave your humanity at the door.  And please don’t just save it for emergencies.

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Text HARVEY to 90999 to make a $10 donation to the American Red Cross.


LawProfBlawg is an anonymous professor at a top 100 law school. You can see more of his musings here He is way funnier on social media, he claims.  Please follow him on Twitter (@lawprofblawg) or Facebook. Email him at lawprofblawg@gmail.com.