Of Men and Mice

Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don’t belong no place. . . . With us it ain’t like that. We got a future. We got somebody to talk to that gives a damn about us. We don’t have to sit in no bar room blowin’ in our jack jus’ because we got no place else to go. If them other guys gets in jail they can rot for all anybody gives a damn. But not us. (George to Lennie, Of Men and Mice, John Steinbeck)

I met a mouse in a barong yesterday.  At a glance, he didn't resemble a mouse at all.  He looked dapper in his outfit.  He held a leather briefcase, shiny, well-polished shoes, fresh haircut, and a very masculine perfume.  The guy was in his 30s.  He came late but strutted with confidence when he barged into the venue.He was the counsel for the plaintiffs in a case referred to me yesterday.  It involved a problem of four siblings suing their elder brother whom they claim to have robbed them of their inheritance.  They were men in their 50s. When they sat with me at the proceeding, they came with their lawyers.  The defendant's lawyer (not a mouse) was elderly... Perhaps in his 60s now, he still looked very dignified, warm, polite, and spoke in measured speech.


Much has transpired between the parties and I can only read through their statements.  Both plaintiffs and defendant were in so much pain.  They could even hardly look at each other.  My task as Mediator primarily entails that I seek any possible settlement without the parties entrusting the fate of their case to the court. The plaintiffs' sole concern was to get the property which is now solely under the defendant's custody.  They explained to me how their elder brother has tricked them into transferring the property to his name and how one thing led to another to the point that each party claims to have been harassed by the other's goons.


My chest was pounding as I was sitting there listening to them.  These are men who came from the same brood.  Honorable men in fact because one was a retired colonel in the army, another a politician, an accountant, a university president, etc...  But there they were hurling the most hurtful accusations they could muster against each other.   I asked them, "Has there ever been a time when you sat to discuss the problems with each other?  Perhaps confronting the real issues?"  Unanimously, they admitted that no such circumstance was given them in the past.  So I proposed, "What if we do that now?  Yes, we can revert this matter to the court and let it decide, albeit uncertain on whose side the court will favor..but if we do that... wounds will never heal.  In fact, deeper and newer hurts will arise because you allowed yourselves to be robbed of the chance to settle your issues amicably."  I gave such proposal in caucus.  With the plaintiffs apart from the defendant.  The defendant, being the elder brother that he is, conceded.  He wanted to talk to his younger siblings...  But the plaintiffs refused.


Because of their lawyer!


The plaintiffs' counsel insisted there is simply no point in trying to make the parties reconcile.  The case has dragged, according to him, and if I let them sit and discuss their issues, I might be putting myself in trouble (he probly thought I am just too frail to be between the clashing men).  The defendant's counsel on the other hand did persuade the elderly brother that yes, it is worth a try.  Perhaps, he said, it could be the first and only step to their reconciliation...


As expected, the Plaintiffs' counsel did succeed in convincing his clients that the more prudent recourse is to simply have the matter reverted to the court.  Being a mouse, he knows, if his clients' problems is settled, he will then be left scouring for other clients. I swear I wanted to punch that man's face right there and then.


I could not quite reconcile how some lawyers like that mouse manage to treat matters of their clients like ordinary business opportunities!  His clients and their opponent are siblings!  How could he allow, without any trace of sympathy and compassion, his clients to ignore their brother's attempt to break down the walls of indifference between them and finally put their grievances to rest?


It was a gut-wrenching and heart-breaking experience for me.  They were total strangers. Perhaps people I will never ever meet again.  But it did pain me so much to realize how some selfish, greedy, mouse dressed in a barong and whom everyone calls an attorney, make warring families shun peace and forgiveness.


Now you know why I call him a MOUSE.  Mice, unlike men, exist in a rat-race.  They are unfeeling.  Wary only of their personal survival. As George above aptly expressed, "If them other guys gets in jail they can rot for all anybody gives a damn." That mouse thrives in a rat-race existence.  And I confess, I pity him.  He is lonely and greedy.  He may have many clients, earn much and amass fortune, but he will always be a mouse.  Because he prays on his clients.  And deserted his humaneness.


The world needs men, not mice. The legal profession needs me.




P.S.  Pardon my immodesty.