My Brother In Law, Sol Laichter, Making a Difference

Life is short, and often we don't fully embrace moments that pass so quickly in our lives. My brother in law, Solomon Laichter passed away this week. He was so many things to so many people. He had a love for music and comedy. His life touched not only his family but every community he practiced in. You see, he was a pharmacist by profession. He was someone that people came to and trusted. I used to watch him as he communicated clearly, patiently, and with care.  He instructed, directed, and counseled not only about the medications he dispensed but about options. He truly empowered people to not only understand their meds but more importantly their diseases.

In his 30 plus years as my brother in law he only wrote me one letter, but it was significant to me. I was at a crossroads, deciding between two life courses. I was a teen trying to choose a direction. My own dad died only a year before so I was without a father. His letter laid out in detail my options. Sol was very bright, and he did what I later discovered was a Ben Franklin list. Sol had beautiful handwriting and his letter flowed onto the page. He was not a man to waste words, and each was clearly measured. At the bottom of that letter was a split page spelling out all the positives and negatives of each career path. His letter helped me make a major decision that would lead to many future blessings. I thanked Sol many years for this letter, and he had forgotten writing it. So like Sol, helping, and then forgetting.

I don't know how many people Sol helped in his lifetime. He never sought appreciation. He never looked for accolades. I only know he made a difference in a great many lives, and in ways he may never have had an opportunity to realize. Sol was a person who deeply cared about his customers, his family, and his friends, nothing more or less than that. He was an inspiration to me, of a man who made a difference through the power of caring, and for that he will never be forgotten.

Of Judges, Prosecutors, and the Legal System

Let me begin by emphatically stating I love this country. I have traveled the world, and every time I return Home I kiss the ground. My family arrived on these shores (actually Ellis Island) around 1908. Great Grandpa wanted a better life for his children. He was running from the persecution, and the pogroms (mass killings) of what was then Russia.

Freedom he sought, and Freedom he found. Working hard he provided for a large family with little English ability. It has taken us the better of three generations on these shores to finally have college educated children. My sisters and I all went to college. We are the first. We are the professionals he dreamed of, and placed in high esteem. From an early age my parents and grandparents told me, "be somebody." "Don't be a nothing."They saw all the possessions of their family and friends robbed in Russia but instilled in us that no one could take what was in our heads. No one could rob us of our education.

Which brings me to our legal system. It has it's flaws. It is not a perfect system. It bothers me that cases can be processed in one state, one county, or one city differently than another. The range of punishments, penalties, and consequences for the entire range of human behavior subjectively applied by people placed and elected into positions of power and authority. I want to believe that these men and women chose their jobs to make a difference. I want to believe that they can see beyond their own prejudices and shortcomings. I want to believe that the middle ground is where the majority choose to live, work, and think. The basis for all we value as a people can't survive in the extremes. Fundamentalists and extremists are not fitted for a true democracy.

I am at times frustrated by the "lack" of reasonableness, logic, and fairness. I do my best to navigate the turbulent waters of a system that sometimes lacks a heart, and soul. After all my clients will have to face faces without emotion who will sit and judge them for their deeds without looking at the other 99% of their life history.

I work hard to balance my feelings with a head that tries to remember the tenets of Our Constitution, Our Bill of Rights, and Our Declaration of Independence. These are OUR Birthright. Born in a country that offers opportunities to those willing to work. I stand guard not just to defend the law, but to be a warrior for justice. Someone willing to say and do what is right for my client. I believe that everyone deserves:
The benefit of a doubt. Everyone deserves, fair dealing and appropriate treatment. Everyone deserves to be counseled about their options.

So our system is not perfect, neither are it's people. Nothing new there just a realization, and maybe a memberance that what is important sometimes can not be measured and what can be measured is not that important.

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My biggest hurdle come the winter is the weather, ugh!

Tomorrow I have Court appearances in Candor (Tioga County), then Ulysses (on one side of Lake Cayuga) and then Dryden (all the way around the bottom of Lake Cayuga) and up Route 13. It will prove challenging with 9" coming to the this area. I must remember to relish the spring and summer up here because winter feels at times like it will never end.

ah memories of 2 weeks ago at the Diving DUI seminar in Key West,,,

Sunset on Mallory Square, so beautiful! I could practice here:

The Key West Courthouse ( I have a Florida license), but I choose Ithaca hands down. I love to practice in the Finger Lakes.

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