what it lacks in utility, it makes up for what it represents

so i got my lawyers ID today. finally. after being officially a lawyer for one year and seven days, i finally got the ID to prove it.

i dont know. i wasnt really interested in getting it. thats why it took me more than a year to get it. i remember during the bar exams, a friend showed me his lawyer's ID and said its something i could look forward to when i pass the bar exams. that didnt really motivate me. i mean, what's its purpose? my college alumni ID could get me discounts in some commercial establishments like Fully Booked. my other alumni ID allows me to use any library inside the university for free (and there are lots of libraries in its large campus which i used to study for the bar exams). my driver's license allows me to drive cars. how about a lawyer's ID? what does it do? maybe its got some use other than proving that im a lawyer. its got some bar code so i guess it can be scanned for something. but the fact that im not aware of its use other than mere identification made me uninterested in getting it.

yesterday, out of the blue, i just felt like getting it. i was in my office room and i thought, maybe its time to get my lawyers ID. so i texted a friend who recently passed the bar exams and asked her if she got her ID already. most likely she already did and when she said yes, i asked her how to get it, confirmed where to get it and how much do i have to pay for it. after getting the details i decided to get it today, or this morning, while i still have time to do so.

when i got my ID, my initial reaction was, "this is it?". my driver's license looks much better. kinda feels cheap. but the more i looked at it, thats when the ID started to look more than what i initially thought about it. for some reason, i started to like it. the more i looked at it, the more i liked it. i started to like the fact that i own such ID. that i have an ID that says im a lawyer. wow. its only after ive held it and looked at it for a few minutes that it started to sink in how nice this ID was. i had to go to the restroom of the IBP building to look at it some more. then i looked at it again when had an early lunch before i went back to my office. i looked at it again when i was in my office room. and again when i got home.

there really isnt much to look at. it has my picture, name, roll number and chapter. thats it. thats why my initial reaction was "thats it?" it has the IBP logo too. but its only when it started to sink in what this ID conveys that i started to recognize its worth.