Around the age of eleven, I had settled on an ambition: I would become a lawyer. A friend of my Aunt Marge’s had introduced me to the wonders of the law: “Look around you — negligence everywhere, as far as the eye can see.” “How about that person crossing the street outside the crosswalk,” I asked, “is that negligence?” “It sure is.” The perspective was illuminating….I found myself in a world in which everyone was at fault for something if only you looked closely enough. This would, of course, include oneself.
“Choices and Consequences” in Mary Eberstadt, ed., Why I Turned Right: Leading Baby Boom Conservatives Chronicle Their Political Journeys (Threshold Editions, 2007).
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