having freedom makes it not so bad

a friend dropped by several times in my office a month ago and said that my office life aint that bad. i have the freedom that's rarely found in other law firms. sure i dont have a mentor but at least i have a fellow lawyer i can ask when i have questions. i dont have a law firm partner to supervise me but im a self-taught kind of guy. ever since 6th grade, i studied on my own (my mother being a teacher always supervised and helped us with our studies. whenever we have exams coming up, she would make questionnaires to test how well we mastered the subject). im a product of trial and error. fall down seven times, get up eight. as my friend said in law school, we belong to the order of the phoenix. we crash and burn and then rise from the ashes. we struggle, we fight, we live. thats how we managed to become lawyers (well, for me, i just kept on moving). of course we acknowledge the wisdom of our professors and we are grateful for what they have taught us but we always recognize the fact that it will always boil down to how eager we are to learn and our capability to think by ourselves (meh. we live, we learn. i think, therefore i am).

going back, being in a law firm which i described years ago as a sinking ship isnt as bad as it looks. its as good as any other firm. it offers variety of law practice and wide range of experience. it just depends if the person is willing to learn. it doesnt depend on mentors or partners. well, they help but their presence isnt really indispensable. if im after legal knowledge and experience, my current law firm is more than adequate compared to most small law offices and maybe even at par with some prestigious law firms.  it just so happens that im starting to feel the difficulties of having a non-competitive salary. thats why ive been whining lately about working in my current firm. financially, i have no future if i stay in my current law office. but other than financial matters, there's nothing to complain about my law office. well, there's the lack of some utilities and other usual office essentials. but the beautiful thing about it is that we still manage to survive. the struggle gives it color.