Thinking Together at the Public Defender's Office

My mind is going in number of different directions today. I think of family, of friends, of church, of work, of what I am working on in my heart and mind. It seems to me that I am always working on a problem, or thinking in some certain direction. I don't know anybody else who is like that except my friend Mack, who is our head Public Defender. I don't know for sure. One or both of my children might be that way. Maybe a lot of people are that way.

My father always had a project he was thinking about or working on. His projects were not philosophical or religious, but working on land or buildings.

I think all the time as if I am working on a project. For me, it is about understanding in life, about understanding life, about understanding something above life and in life - God.

Mack and I have this continuous thought process going, and we share it through the week: between court, on the way to court, on the way back from court. The best I can tell we have this compulsion to make sense of things, and we report back to each other about how we are making sense of things. It's not like we decided to be this way; it is how we are.

One day, Mack will say something like: "I realize why the judge took the position he did . . . " And, he will go on to explain his theory on how the judge could have reached the conclusion he did - a conclusion which seemed to have no explanation. Or, the next morning I will go into his office and state some theory about why people act or believe as they do. He will join right in as if we had never stopped our conversation. Thing is, we really don't stop our conversation, because it is an extension of our ongoing thought process which we share now and then. We will be walking in the front door of the justice center talking about religion, and I'll be inveighing against some type of crazy biblical interpretation, and suddenly we are greeted by the court officer and we move into talking about how many inmates are on the docket.

Mack has all kinds of philosophy and theology and political science books, and also, poetry, novels, historical books. He is a much broader reader than I am. He is also a close reader of the Bible and some scholarly works on the Bible. Mack, who one of the wisest and most sane of people I know, basically thinks that most religion and theology is crazy. That is not to say that Mack isn't religious. He is deeply religious in the sense of giving praise to God in the depths of his life, and caring deeply for this creation and the creatures God has made. And, Mack understands the Bible. He understands it so well that he doesn't get too interested in going to any church.

Mack and I talk law one minute, then fall into theology the next, and then a little politics and psychology. We continue trying the make sense of things; we are compelled to. I don't know how I would have gotten through the past fifteen years without my friend, Mack. Our office is a place where you can try to figure things out, be a little out there at times, and find some real support when you need it. Through his decency as the head of our office over the years, Mack has drawn people to work here who care about our clients, care about people in general, and care about each other. Our work place is more in line with the spirit of the Bible than 95% of churches.