This last week was relatively uneventful, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Essentially, I've locked myself into the Batcave (aka library) from morning until evening in recent days as I focus my efforts on the LSAT. It's a mentally consuming process, but it's the kind of test that requires hundreds of hours of study to do well. I'm grateful I have the time to devote to it, and that my angel wife is helpful while I do so. Despite the studying demands last week, I surfaced once in a while so we could participate in a few notable educational gatherings. It's easier for me to justify taking a break from my studies if I'm taking a break so I can learn something else. We decided to have our FHE on the Constitution because Monday was Constitution Day. We learned that David McCullough would be giving a speech for the opening of the Constitution Center at UVU that evening, so we decided to go and listen to one of the eminent historians of our time.
We are glad we made the effort; David McCullough was an exceptional speaker and deepened our appreciation of our country's unique history. He talked about seeing our revolutionary era history through the lenses of everything else that people experienced their lives: the books they read, the music they listened to, the people and ideas they loved, etc. He talked about the "cathedrals" of culture and learning that will be our country's legacy long after we pass away. He believed that while they are sometimes more difficult to detect in our modern society, that they are there, and he believed that our world-class universities are part of that legacy. He said he could not understand how someone can claim a love for our country and not make some effort to know the history of its founding. I don't make enough efforts to do that myself. Fortunately, I've married a girl from a family that loves American history, so hopefully I'll catch up. I thought it was neat that McCullough acknowledged the miraculous conditions in which the Constitution was drafted; that the Founders overcame competing interests, threatening enemies, limited time, and personal flaws to draft a document that serves as a basis of government throughout the world.
We weren't content with just having Constitution Day, so we transformed it into Constitution Days by attending a couple more events on Tuesday. I attended the BYU devotional by Thomas Griffith, a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. circuit who happens to be an alumnus of BYU. In the evening, Joanna and Mason joined me on campus to attend a lecture also by Judge Griffith. One of the overriding themes of his remarks was that he is limited in his capacity as a judge for important reasons. He said that it is part of his oath not to impose his own values and biases on the laws that he interprets, but rather to interpret the laws strictly based on the text itself and its legal precedents. In other words, judges are to be neutral so that it is indeed the people that determine the laws. Otherwise, our democratic system would be compromised. He also said it is important to see those with whom we disagree not as our enemies, but as our colleagues, and to allow for the possibility that we can be wrong in some of our views. He quoted Thomas More's character from A Man For All Seasons to allude to the finality of law and the security it provides. We decided to watch the movie to complement Judge Griffith's lecture. It has been quite the legal week!
As a lowlight of the week, I watched BYU's defeat at Boise State at my brother's apartment on campus. I can't remember seeing a defensive performance by BYU as impressive as that one. It was heartbreaking that we still somehow managed to lose the game. Needless to say, there are some core issues with BYU's offense, and they seem to have their root in poor offensive line play and poor passing. I'm excited to see Taysom Hill get a shot at quarterback, but it seems like the offensive line's problems are likely due to inadequate coaching. Hopefully the team will perform better on Friday against Hawaii because Joanna and I will be there! We're excited to go to a game together. Anything is fun when it's with Joanna! Now if only we were watching it in Hawaii...
Maybe next time...
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