March 24th

Saturday, March 27, 2010

I feel I would be ungrateful if I did not denote what Wednesday the 24th was. While to me it is a day that I have bad memories and am prone to crying it is also the day that I was granted  the blessing of continuing to live. You see I am a survivor of the Westside Middle School shootings that took place 12 years ago. I was 12 at the time and a innocent girl who had no clue her life would be forever changed.  When I say survivor yes that means that the bullets flew around me and I am very lucky to be alive. I do not want to dwell on the morbid things I saw or that occurred but I have recently found that this experience has been effecting some of my decisions in my law career. I would like to be a criminal lawyer, and no doubt I would prefer to be a prosecutor.  I do think I could handle being a defense lawyer because I have grown up and seen how the world shapes people and why they choose what mistakes they make and of course everyone deserves a day in court. However, being able to represent victims is where my heart lies in working. I was recently at an interview with the prosecutors office and they asked my why do I want to be a prosecutor. I had to be honest with them, I have been a victim of a crime and it has changed my views to be more of a prosecutor than a defense attorney. This you might think is an advantage, but in real truth it is also a weakness when the interviewers heard this no doubt images of nancy gracy popped into their minds. And of course, the next question was then how can I be impartial.   That is a good question, and one I kinda fumbled with when answering. I had never considered this.  Now I look back and wish I had answered that yes that experience has shaped who I am and my beliefs in life but I have moved on and forgiven, that I have grown up to experience so many other events that have shaped my motivations that I am not the same person I was after the shooting.