Wake Up Calls

Last week was a busy one. I had multiple DWI hearings, a mini trial, and a DMV Refusal administrative hearing. These took place within three counties and five town/city Courts. Jumping cities to counties is fine when the weather is good but when November hits the roads in Upstate NY can be challenging and potentially dangerous. Moving about keeps things interesting and sometimes how they do things (handle criminal cases) in other parts of the state gives all my cases a new perspective.

I remember way back in my Brooklyn, NY days I worked out (thats how we said exercised) in a real basement gym. Just free weights back then, no cardiovascular machines, no aerobics, just men grunting and yelling. In fact, it was a big deal when sometime around 1978 the first women were allowed to join. It was located in Sheepshead Bay. The owner was a chiropractor named Julie Levine. Anyway, there were some real characters who worked out there and the entertainment value alone made the crazy workouts bearable.

It's funny the stuff you remember from 30 years ago, there was one guy who wanted me to wake him up early. He was willing to pay me to keep calling him until he got up, and came to the gym. It seems that giving Wake Up calls was something I am good at.

When I was a chiropractor I gave my patients wake up calls to change their lifestyles, their diets, and their bad habits. That trend to wake people up by either motivation or inspiration has continued with my legal clients. Many of us definitely need a wake up call.

A wake up call is a call to action. A call to make a change. A call to re-evaluate and to potentially re-assess your priorities and your values. Along the spectrum of cases there are people who do not want to accept any responsibility for their current problems or situation.

You are where you at this time and place for a reason. Life is many things but it is also a great teacher of lessons. What you do not learn from, you will be forced to repeat. Much like failing a class in school you must take it over and over till you get it right.

Lawyers, Judges, and Courts are in people's lives for a reason. Many problems are an opportunity to change, to come back to what is most important to you, and to get out of a destructive life path. Until people see the value in their situation they will expend huge amounts of energy fighting it.

Maybe you will find out who your friends really are? As they say, everyone wants to know you when things are good, what about when things are not so good. Maybe you will find out the value of having family? Being arrested and going through the criminal process definitely brings change. I have seen it break up long term relationships, and also strengthen ones that were weak.

I am of the opinion that everything happens for a reason and a purpose. I do not believe in randomness. I believe in God. To me that is the Grand Organized Designer. The plan is sometimes bigger than we can see but I believe in this perfection. I have seen so many people over the course of twenty plus years of professional practice look back on the most horrific events with gratitude. They see that the new job, the new life, the new relationship, and all the changes that came about as a result of their DWI curse were truly a blessing in disguise.