While it is true
that without clients I would most certainly be working in a different capacity,
I am thankful for my clients for reasons beyond the mere obvious. Naturally, I need to work for a living and
therefore appreciate those who entrust their most important matters to my care,
which in turn allows me to maintain an office, provide work for many
outstanding people, and of course pay my own bills. But this aspect, as it would seem, is merely
the beginning of the inherent value to be found in clients.
I recently spoke
with a client of mine whose neighborhood took the full brunt of Hurricane
Sandy. During a time in his case when we
would normally be maintaining frequent contact, he was absent. Unreachable.
Silent. It caused me
discomfort. I cannot legitimately care
for one area of a client’s life without being affected when another area is
threatened. So am I a more caring person
because of my clients? I would like to
think so. When my client finally
re-established contact with me and recounted the widespread destruction,
flooding, food lines, gas lines, and loss of electricity and cell phone, I felt
relief that he and his family had survived and celebrated with him the great
gift of life.
And then there are
the things my clients teach me. True, it
is I who gets paid to teach my clients about the law and the best way to
protect their family and their interests in a divorce storm that is actually worse than
anything Sandy could dish out, but in the course of so doing I learn many
things about businesses of all sorts, psychology, humanity, and decisions that
are both good and bad. Truth be told,
all of my clients are interesting in some form or fashion. The businesses they have built, run or called
home day after day are part of the very fabric that makes our country what it
is. The diverse backgrounds of clients
from all over the world bring cultural richness to my office. Their life stories teach me invaluable
lessons about the importance of good decisions, and the life altering effects
of bad decisions. In either event, I am
all the better for this knowledge, which only grows as I share lessons learned with
the next client. Such accumulation of
practical wisdom screams to be liberally shared with those in need, either to
uplift spirits or provide candid caution.
Finally, by
choosing the right clients, I have found a cause to help others, and thus bring
fulfillment to my own life. For just as
no student learns as much from any class as its teacher, we all benefit from
treating others with dignity, respect, and striving to make better the life of
someone else. No, I have no grand
illusions of changing the world, just improving what I can. And to my clients who help me in this goal, I
remain thankful.
Happy
Thanksgiving.
