Osler's Razor

Hearing no objections, starting next Wednesday I'm going to start profiling the people I went to law school with. I have begun to do some digging around, and the more I find the more intriguing the project becomes. There is a fascinating variety of stories, and an amazing array of paths that have been followed from that one point in place and time.

One thing I have found intriguing already is the different ways in which we seem to have defined and pursued success. Some, from the start, sought power. Others sought meaning, or to create social good. For some, probably, financial security was paramount, and it is clear that some chose family above everything else. And, of course, for a lot of us there is a mix of things. Seeking power and social good, for example, need not be mutually exclusive (though they do create tension if they are pursued simultaneously, I suspect).

And, of course, some people found success in a place or doing something that they did not intend to end up in. That happens, too.

As I start this project, I'm going to set some ground rules:

1) Only positive things and setbacks that have been surmounted will be part of what I describe. I have no interest in embarrassing anyone or writing about personal tragedies.

2) I'm only going to rely on and relate information that is already publicly available, preferably in bios that the people themselves have some control over. This isn't much of a limitation; I've found that for nearly everyone I have looked into there is a wealth of public information out there right now. I'll also rely on my own (positive) recollections for some people.

3)  I'm not going to go in any particular order-- it's going to be fairly random.

We'll start next week!