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Observations of An Ex-Cop in La La Land |
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 "....as soon as I graduate from Law School and pass the bar, I'm gonna sue the network for cancelling my mom's show, then get an injunction to stop my dad from making me wash dishes or mow lawns..." |
Now if only his boy doesn't
sue for invasion of privacy!
By ANDY MURCIA
of TheColumnists.com
During my tenure as a Chicago Police Sergeant I had
many occasions to see just about every type of lawyer there was.
I’ve seen the crooked mouthpieces, but I’ve also seen
the honest, hard working lawyers, too. I know some of you might
argue “there’s no such thing as an honest lawyer.”
I would disagree. My good news today is that I’m announcing
to the world that my wife and I have a son who is an honorable
young man in every way, and he will be an honest barrister. Well,
one day in the future that is.
His name is Andrew Joseph Murcia IV and it would not surprise me one bit if he wound up a Supreme Count Justice one day. He’s an honest young man and he plays by the rules. He treats everyone the same. He’s only 12 years old now, and perhaps you think he did an extra special job on washing Dad’s car that kick-started me into writing this column about him.
Wrong.
It all started back when he was only six. Let me tell you a few things about him that may get you into his corner, too.
When Andrew was only six, he witnessed the biggest boy in his kindergarten class beating the heck out of a much smaller boy. All the other kids stood back, too afraid to aid the smaller boy. Young Andrew stepped between them and admonished the bigger boy to “stop hitting.” The bigger boy socked Andrew hard, so Andrew punched back and repeated “stop hitting!” The big boy stopped. A teacher witnessed this and the school principal brought Andrew into her office and gave him a “Good Citizens Award.”
I’m proud to say that today Andrew, the smaller boy and the bigger boy are all friends. He peacefully found a way for them all to get along without “hitting.”
Don’t you wish either Bush or Kerry or someone could find a way to stop the world’s people from “hitting” each other? I bet my son Andrew is looking better and better to you readers now.
One Saturday night Andrew,
now 10, asked if he could go to UCLA to become a lawyer.
"You mean now?" I asked.
He said yes, that he’d like to see the UCLA campus, but
he especially wanted to see the law school building.
Ann and I looked at each other semi-shocked. I mean prior to this he wanted to be an architect and “build houses for people to live in.” Then after listening to his grandfather, Capt. Joe Nauseda, tell of his flying experiences, Andrew wanted to be an air force pilot “and protect America.”
We took him and Capt. Joe to every air show and Ann even got them a private visit with the famed Blue Angels. But as much as Andrew liked all this, and as much as he loves his grandfather, he still wanted to become a lawyer.
The Murcia family only
had one lawyer--my Uncle Manuel, who Andrew never met. He was
a fine lawyer and later became a law professor in New York. My
father wanted to become a lawyer, but he had seven kids and had
to work as a cop instead, so he could feed us all. My father
wanted me to become a lawyer and even offered to pay for my education,
but I only wanted to be a cop like him. So, Andy wanting to be
a lawyer came as a surprise to us.
Well, it was near 9 at night, but we figured it was the weekend,
so why not drive over to UCLA and let the kid look around? We
arrived on the campus and obtained directions to the Law Building.
The three of us walked up the cement steps to those large glass
doors that must have seemed very imposing to a boy of 10.
Andrew-Boy peered in through the glass doors, where a maintenance man slowly polished already shiny floors. He looked all around, and then stood there with his little thumbs tucked into his waistband. He had this very confident look on his face.
Ann and I will take an oath before God that the boy looked totally “at home” there. We got goose bumps and tears came to our eyes. I mean, we always knew our son was a special boy, but when scenes like this unfold before any parents’ eyes, it’s almost more than the emotional circuits can handle.
At age 11, Andrew overheard
me speaking to a contractor who was going to build a new garage
and storage room for our home. The contractor asked if I intended
to pull a building permit or just “bootleg” the construction.
Without thinking it through and because I was anxious to get
it built, I said “bootleg” is okay with me. (I had
enough of city hall’s red tape to last me a lifetime). Later,
when we were alone, Andrew asked me what “bootleg”
meant. I explained it to him and about the “red tape”
also.
My son then said, “Dad, do you mean that to save time you’re
going to violate the law?”
Well, it hit me like a ton of bricks and so I answered him this way: “I was, son, because I didn’t think it through. But because you made it so clear to me just now by what you said, I will pull the permit tomorrow. I won’t violate the law."
At City Hall, I stood in lines for hours but eventually got the permit. I’m so glad I did it the good citizens’ way as I kept my son’s view of honesty and good citizenship intact.
At age 12, Andrew came home from school last week with a form for us to fill out. It was applying to become a member of the Mock Trial team. His teacher, Mr. Galla, and some parents led by Mrs. Montoya, who's a lawyer, were starting to form the team. Andrew applied and went to all the meetings. He could have been turned down, or even, if accepted, assigned to be a “witness” in the mock trial and not a lawyer. He said he wanted to be cast as a lawyer, but would serve in any capacity as he wanted to see the process play out in a real courtroom.
The instructors tested each kid thoroughly and afterwards Andrew-Boy was assigned to be a lawyer who would prosecute the case, giving the opening statement and the direct and cross examinations of the defendant and the prosecution’s eyewitness. He is still going to these after-school classes on his own time and just the other day Mrs. Montoya told Ann that Andrew was “terrific…has an aptitude for it…and it’s hard to believe he’s in the 7th grade.”
I checked the mock trial competition out on line and the mock trial teams compete with many other schools. It’s a very important extracurricular activity for exceptional young minds interested in law, our constitution and good citizenship.
There’s more I could tell you about our “son, the lawyer,” but I think you now understand that Andrew Joseph Murcia IV is the sort of special young man that our world is in dire need of finding. I always agreed with those who said “our young men and women are our best hope for the future.”
Ann and I do all we can to make sure our son has everything in his life that he needs to develop himself, and we thank other parents for doing the same for their children. We all owe a debt to parents like Mrs. Montoya and terrific teachers like Mr. Galla who give their valuable time to help our kids develop. It has got to be a better world in the long run for their sacrifice. There is no more important job any of us can do. The kids we help today will make the world the place we all want it to be tomorrow.
We all must help our kids become good citizens by our example, even if it means standing in lines waiting for building permits. Just like when the principal awarded Andrew-Boy the “Good Citizen Award” back in kindergarten, we too must be good citizens and play by the rules. It’s all-important, and that’s why I keep his “Good Citizen” award displayed in a place of honor in my office.
So should you need an honest lawyer in the not too distant future, call Andrew Joseph Murcia IV. He’s twice the man his father was, and he plays by the rules. Not to mention, he’ll give you a fair shake on his fee. Now there’s an honest lawyer for you!
©2004 by Andy Murcia.
The caricature of Andy Murcia is ©2003 by Jim Hummel. The
illustration is from IMSI's Master Clips Collection, 1895 Francisco
Blvd. E., San Rafael, CA, 94901-5506, USA.
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