HCBA Lawyer Magazine Vol. 28, No. 3 | Page 5

E D I T O R ’ S
M E S S A G E
E d C o m e y - L a w C l e r k t o U. S . B a n k r u p t c y Ju d g e M i c h a e l G. Wi l l i a m s o n
resolving to Make a Difference
even two hours helping others can make all the difference
in the world.
S
ometimes I sit around, usually at the start of
the New Year, and envision how different I’d
be if I actually followed through on my New
Year’s resolutions. In the past, my New Year’s
resolutions were the same every year: work
out more, read more about history, learn a foreign
language, etc.
The resolutions always start out overly ambitious. It’s
not enough to work out more; I’m going to work out every
day. Read more? How about a book a week. And I don’t
see why I can’t be fluent
in a foreign language by
the end of the year. If I
had come even remotely
close to following through
on those resolutions over
the years, I’d be a
hyperpolyglot with four
percent bodyfat and an
encyclopedic knowledge
of history by now.
Alas, every year would
be the same. I’d adjust my
resolutions almost as soon
as I made them. After
missing the first workout,
working out every day
becomes working out twice a week. After the first week,
reading a book a week becomes a book a month. And
after a month of spending no time on a foreign language,
my timeline for fluency gets pushed back from one year
to two years. By year end, working out more consists of
taking the stairs in the parking garage at work; my Kindle
has become a graveyard where books I’ve bought but
haven’t read go to die; and I remain astonished that my
six-year-old daughter is more fluent in Spanish than I am.
So I’ve been determined to find a way to stick to my
New Year’s resolutions. Two years ago, at my wife’s
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JAN - FEB 2018
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HCBA LAWYER
suggestion, I started picking resolutions that were about
improving someone else rather than myself. As I sat down
to edit this issue of the Lawyer, I came across some great
ideas for resolutions that would help others.
Two in particular caught my eye. As part of his effort
to recognize lawyers who “pay their rent to society,”
Gordon Hill highlights in his President’s Message the
extraordinary work being done by Carol LoCicero and
Bob Kline, who’ve collected and delivered tens of
thousands of meals to feed hungry children for their
organization, End 68
Hours of Hunger. All it
takes is an hour or two a
week for volunteers to
help pack or deliver food.
Judge Miriam Valkenburg
also has an article on the
10th Annual HCBA 5k
Pro Bono River Run. In
it, Judge Valkenburg
challenges lawyers to
take on just one pro
bono case. So this year,
I’m resolving to volunteer
at End 68 Hours of
Hunger and to take on
pro bono work.
By the way, in case you were wondering, focusing my
resolutions on others rather than myself has helped me
do a better job of sticking to them, at least marginally. Of
course, I suspect that has more to do with me setting the
bar so low before. Here’s the beauty of it, though. Doing
a little exercise here or there, or reading a chapter or two
out of a book, or occasionally doing some exercises on
Rosetta Stone (which I’m still paying $7/month for)
realistically speaking is meaningless. But even two hours
helping others can make all the difference in the world.
Best wishes for a joyful New Year!
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