Re: Judge Ted McMillian

Dear Editor:

Judge Ted McMillian of the United States Court of Appeals (who died in St. Louis this week [January 18, 2006]) was a man of uncommon dignity, wisdom, and kindness. He had understanding and compassion, in part borne out of the prejudice and hatred of others, patience and humility in part borne out of the intolerance and arrogance of others.

He was neither a fool nor blind to the shortcomings and human weakness in others or himself, yet he valued the potential and looked for the good in everyone. His nurturing and friendship was not based on quotas, affiliation, agendas, or merit, but simply on the need of those who sought his help.

His love of science, nature, and literature infected us. He was steadfast in purpose, dedicated to task, with a gentleness that elevated the spirits of those he worked with. Character is revealed not by the compassion we show our friends and allies, but rather by what we show our enemies and those who oppose us.

He rose above anger, parochialism, and bitterness and championed not just liberty and justice, but also equality and mercy for all.

If greatness is measured not by how many love or admire us, but how many we are able to love and affect in a positive way, Judge McMillian was truly great. He taught us courage counts, to fight and not to yield on those things that matter, and grace.

He also taught us not just secrets of success, but how to survive failure and loss. Wounded by his passing, we are caught short on heroes.

Sincerely,

Tim Gammon
Springfield, MO

Re: Disquisition on Lawyers and the Ethical Life

Dear Editor:

The question of questions, since antiquity, has been, "What is the best life?"

Lawyers have participated in the great conversation across the centuries about how to define, and how to live, the best life.

Ethics, that branch of study that we call Moral Philosophy, is, simply put, the study of right and wrong conduct.

Readers of the Journal of The Missouri Bar will resonate to this respected and worthwhile endeavor. This is so for two reasons: (1) we are professional members of a learned profession which itself is subject to its own professional ethics and (2) we are all fellow travelers on this road of life.

Background. Historically, there are but three systems of ethics, three conceptions of the ideal self and the moral life.

One is that of Buddha and Jesus, which considers all men to be equally precious; resists evil by returning only good; identifies virtue with love; and is inclined in government to unlimited democracy.

Another is that of Machiavelli and Nietzsche, which accepts the inequality of men, relishes in the risks of combat, conquest and rule; identifies virtue with power; and exalts hereditary aristocracy.

The third, that of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, denies the universal applicability of either of the other two systems; considers that only informed and mature minds can judge, according to diverse circumstances, when love should rule, and when power; identifies virtue, accordingly, with intelligence; and advocates a varying mixture of democracy and aristocracy in government. (See The Story of Philosophy, W. Durant, page 179-80.)

Consider, then, some relevant writings of lawyers on aspects of duty and the ethical life.

Cicero (106-43 B.C.), a successful prosecutor renowned for his eloquence, authored De Officiis, which we call On Duties, on the topic of the proper discharge of civic duty.

Voltaire (1694-1778), who had studied law, authored Candide, a captivating tale about the problem of evil in "best of all possible worlds," in the aftermath of the Lisbon earthquake.

Best known as a philosopher, John Stuart Mill (1806-1873), who had read law as part of his formal education, was the originator of Utilitarianism, whose doctrine was that "all actions are to be judged in terms of their ability in promoting the greatest happiness of the greatest number."

Moral philosophy was so pervasive in Britain and so deeply ingrained in the national character that it entered into the plot lines of the comic operettas, The Pirates of Penzance or The Slave of Duty and H.M.S. Pinafore or The Lass That Loved a Sailor, by Gilbert and Sullivan, W.S. Gilbert (1836-1919) being a member of the bar. I can remember my college philosophy professor regaling us with the opening scene of H.M.S. Pinafore where the ship's crew sang and danced to the lyrics:

We sail the ocean blue,

And our saucy ship's a beauty;

We're sober men and true,

And attentive to our duty.

In conclusion, having reacquainted ourselves with our heritage regarding the ethical life and reflected a bit on how it appertains to our practice of the law, let us close with the teaching of Professor Kant: "Morality is not properly the doctrine of how we make ourselves happy but how we make ourselves worthy to be happy."

Very truly yours,

Thomas P. Knoten
St. Louis, MO