What is a bar association? There are local, county, state, national, and international bar associations (as with other types of groups). What exactly is their turf and their individual missions? Most attorneys work in more than one courthouse, and in more than one county, so they could possibly be members (or potential members) of various bar associations. Why and how does an attorney choose to belong to a particular bar association? For various reasons-to gain knowledge from the committee/seminar components; to rub shoulders with others who practice (not necessarily exclusively) in the same area; provide other various benefits, programs and services to its members; promote improvement in the practice of law, and so much more. But, why call it the Northwest Suburban Bar Association? Do we try to reach the special needs of the northwest suburban attorneys? Even if so, how do you do that?
The NWSBA mission statement is “Dedicated to improving the quality of life in our community by inspiring excellence in the practice of law.” The NWSBA is currently involved in a Long Range Planning process. Any association should evolve, as the needs of its members and its surrounding community changes. This is a rule of thumb for any entity that wants to thrive.
In one way or another, the wonders of the world evolved. ‘The basic idea of evolution is simply that you fiddle around and you change something and then you ask, Does it improve my survival or not? If it does not, then those individuals die and that idea goes away. And if it does improve your survival, then those individuals succeed, and you keep fiddling around, improving.’ A Fin is a Limb is a Wing, How Evolution Fashioned Its Masterworks, by Carl Zimmer, National Geographic Magazine, 11/06, p. 114.
‘Evolution is a tinkerer, an improviser’, says Sean Carroll (a biologist at the U. of Wisconsin-Madison), who likens the body-building genes to construction workers. (p. 114) “If you walked past a construction site at 6 p.m. every day, you would say, ‘Wow, it’s a miracle-the building is building itself.’ But, if you sat there all day and saw the workers and the tools, you’d understand how it was put together. We can now see the workers and the machinery. And the same machinery and workers can build any structure. ‘A limb, a feather, or a flower is a marvel, but not a miracle.’
Man still bears in his bodily frame the indelible stamp of his lowly origin. The Descent of Man, Charles Darwin. We must adjust and adapt and control, or we perish. The Dragons of Eden, Carl Sagan, 1977, p. 4. ‘All possible brain states are by no means occupied; there must be an enormous number of mental configurations that have never been entered or even glimpsed by any human being in the history of mankind. Each human being is truly rare and different and the sanctity of individual human lives is a plausible ethical consequence. p. 44.
The NWSBA needs all of you evolving types, workers of different sorts, with all of your various brain configurations, to get together with us and make it work. The NWSBA is a conduit for the popular will of its members. Remember the Chicago 7 from 1968? They believed they were merely conduits for the popular will. Rubin tells his audience, “You know what to do. You know where you are, you know what’s effective!” History Now, by J.R. Zones, Chicago Reader, 2/28/08, p. 23. Look forward to seeing you soon!
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