AS I WRITE this, two weeks have passed since the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The toll of persons missing has exceeded 6,500, companies are continuing to lay off tens of thousands of workers, and our military is preparing for war. Our political leaders are taking what appears to be decisive and appropriate action; firefighters, police and emergency medical professionals continue the heroic work of cleaning up; and most people in our country are continuing to grieve for those lost. We have seen the images of the attack and aftermath for weeks on television, and these images – startling and disturbing in the short term – promise to remain with us forever.

Many of us are questioning the basic security we had taken for granted. We are grappling with how this event and its fallout will change our lives and the lives of our children in the years to come. As you read this, we may already be at war. We simply cannot comprehend how this could have happened, and perhaps worst of all, we have no idea what we can do about it and how we should react.

For those of us born after Dec. 7, 1941, nothing in our lifetime approaches the enormity of what happened on Sept. 11, 2001. When I asked my 80-year-old father what it was like on the day Pearl Harbor was attacked, he recalled that he, his three brothers and his friends immediately and enthusiastically enlisted in the Army, and thereafter never questioned their commitment to defend America. He said it was hard to compare that day to this attack since it was a different era, different enemy, and he was only 20 years old at the time. All I knew was that he was a hero, and I was not.

Like most of us, therefore, I was left to try to figure all of this out for myself. How should I feel? What should I do? Should I be doing anything as Bar president? Are lawyers even relevant to this, and if so, how? We are not firefighters, police, doctors, soldiers or world leaders. I’m 43 years old, smoke too much, have no military training and have been trying tort cases in New Hampshire courts for the last 18 years of my life. Not the stuff of which heroes are made. With no answers to these perfectly logical and necessary questions, I simply sat, and watched, and began to feel this strange sort of depression and listlessness as the days passed.

As I was muddling through my mail in my depressed state a couple days ago, I came across a monthly magazine that I receive as a certified high school basketball official. In pondering what seemed a pleasant topic compared to watching and obsessing over the TV coverage of the aftermath, a phrase that we officials often say to each other before leaving the locker room for the court popped into my thoughts: "Let’s go do what we do best." Referees aren’t in the game; they do not coach the players, shoot the shots or play defense. We do only one thing: officiate the game and let the players decide the outcome. So with that motivational phrase, we step out onto the floor and go do what we do best.

The phrase stuck in my head as I turned my attention back to the television, and it suddenly struck me. I am a lawyer. I work within the judicial system. The judicial system stands for "justice" and "fairness." The judicial system is often tempered by a sense of "compassion." We see suffering and conflict and try to fix it, not cause or prolong it. We fight for our client’s liberties and freedoms. At all times, however, we strive to treat our fellow human beings involved in the judicial system with respect. By working within this system, therefore, I have the opportunity and the obligation to promote justice and fairness, to temper my actions with compassion, to uphold our constitutional principles of freedom and liberty, and to treat my fellow human beings with respect.

What the terrorists did to our country and those poor souls who perished was not just. It was not fair. It was barbaric. In fact, part of their motivation was probably their hatred of our sense of justice and fairness. They showed no compassion for the innocent lives they ended, and they demonstrated through their heinous acts a disrespect for the human race and any concept of a greater being or God. In fact, these people represent the antithesis of everything members of my profession are sworn to uphold. How could I understand them, or what they have done? They stand for everything I abhor – and I stand for everything they despise and seek to destroy.

I can’t fight a fire, or go to war. I can’t perform surgery and save a life, and I can’t provide intelligence on terrorists to our federal authorities. I can’t rebuild a skyscraper, or find the words to console the family of a victim. But I can be a good lawyer and work even harder to uphold those very ideals and principles of human respect and a free society that make us different from the miserable, godless bastards who did this to all of us. I have a license to do it, I’m trained to do it, and I can do it every day of my life. And it does make a difference, because these are the principles that we will all be sacrificing to protect and preserve over the months and years ahead. Best of all, it is "what I do best."

I hope you all find a way to deal with the trauma of the last few weeks, and cope with the uncertainty of events to come. God bless all of you, and God bless America.

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