"He Made Partner"

I'm at my bar.

This is my bar.  The bar I do not have the deed to, but I still none the less own.

And sitting beside me are two men.  One young, one old, both lawyers.  The younger one "just made partner."

The older one is bestowing his wisdom upon the younger, and it is good wisdom.

"Don't forget family."

"Your wife is the most important thing in your life."

"Your childrens' baseball games are more important than late night meetings at the firm."

I admire the older lawyer and respect him.  May even ask for his card later tonight to have a legal resource I respect and trust.

But what i can't get over is what the old man is asking of the young man.  He is still telling the kid that there will be times that he will have to subvert his family for the "firm."

That there will be times he has to stick around late.  That the family will have to come second.  That he may have to compromise his morals to supplicate office politics and power struggles.  It is an old man who has sold his soul to a particular path and is now badgering the young, new partner into a life that he may not really want.

Money is a currency people.  No doubt about that. Money is a currrency.

But the most important currency is happiness, and the source of your happiness isn't the office.  It's your wife/husband/children/friends.

This young victim is literally 2.5 feet from me.