Raison d'etre is French for "reason for existence".
Many a times we travel miles and for ages upon end in search of this reason, or this purpose which encapsulates our being placed on this earth to live the moments we personify.
In actual fact, some people go through their whole lives in the dark, not knowing a place of belonging or a sense of fulfilment.
Sometimes, it's a phase, deep long and dark
*hand shoots up!*
But as of summer 2012, I, Sarah Jane Chia, so happened to have stumbled across my RAISON D'ETRE. *deng deng deng*
where somehow the pieces of my life find RAISON to fall into place.
(wah so posh)
anyway, this as promised, is an entry of my work, and how it has granted me a sense of contentment. i have fallen in love with the law profession in a way i don't think i could have ever grown to love chemical engineering
*pumps fist* *jumps to the sky* *leaps* *triumphant smile* *chicken dance* *right choices in life*
i interned in two separate companies in two countries (leaving it at that for privacy purposes as it's an emerging tort LOL) (lawyer inside info)
anyway, i discovered different areas of the profession, and i have grown a spark or two for the areas i might want to practise in.
I discovered that i have a knack for the profession because i love how i can channel my effort and hard work into playing my part in contributing to the regulation of society.
i love how the job of a lawyer involves a little bit of this of that, economics, business, marketing, literature, social welfare, anything and everything related to the interaction and analysis of the human person.
throw in a pinch or two of psychological and sociological aspects in juggling emotion, and we're good to go. that's law for you. that is the secret, the sugar and spice, the key to what is the law.
over the years, i have discovered that i am ever an idealist, i seek to live and to help let live, through the passageway to idealism. i love everything dreamy, wonderful, beautiful and ethical. we all know it's never that straightforward though, things often appear cloudy, grey, such that the idealist may often appear the antagonist amid various liberal views of the realist, and more so concerning issues of great controversy.
it's difficult, to be a person of intellect and opinion in society, which is precisely why i am not :p
but deep in my core, i know, what it is i would ultimately strive for, in the little ways that i can.
to maintain this balance of feeling contentment in the minimal, i explored areas of the law this summer 2012 that would not require so much emotional intervention. i dealt with contractual agreements to do with real estate, housing developments. i also dealt with issues in relation to shares in a company, in regulating the rights and obligations of directors and shareholders. although seemingly mundane to some, i thoroughly enjoyed the ways in which i could contribute to this idea of the "human person" devised in my head, by carrying out the formalities inevitably required in, for example, putting a roof over a client's head, in providing him/her a home..
..where blessings flow and families flourish (the view of the idealist)
and in the case of companies, how an eye for detail, as meticulous as they can be, actually proves invaluable for the growth of companies and its ever-proliferating impact on the global economy.
i appreciate how things at first glance appear trivial, and structured (possibly even verging on rigidity) when they are indeed ever so significant.
i also explored the areas of intellectual property, intangible property, rights under trademark law and copyright law. interestingly, i fell in love with the overlap between the rights of an author, and privacy law/communications law. i managed to get down and dirty with the highly contentious act recently passed in parliament and declined for amendment by the cabinet.
it is exhilarating, how the law remains to be the common parent accommodating for the various streams of specific areas relevant to the individual, and to society at large.
so for this year and the last, i have learnt so much about myself such that i know now what it is i can take, and what is it i may have to turn down. as of last year i learnt that i can be frail, and be emotionally attached to a family bringing their dispute to court.
i could imagine the pain emitting from the many tears in discussion of custody, get lost in large implications of adoption, and feel the confusion in a little boy's eyes as he watched his parents divorce in court. i could even think of john mayer's "daughters" at the very instant, because that is the extent to which my mind processes emotional downturn.
i have known the circumstances through which i may tear up (like a baby, although not as careless and as blatant lol, more.., surreptitious, hopefully lol), and the lengths i would take to feel the feelings a client, and to be fuelled by a desire to help.
at the same time i have known to separate the personal desire from the professional, finding in them both, a feeling of care, and of meaning.
both years 2011 and 2012 have been amazing for me. i am amazed, really, that i could churn out these words for feeling the way that i do. i really thought these feelings were more abstract and inexplicable than they actually are.
this academic year of 2012/2013, i am glad that i am granted the flexibility to choose the modules i'd like to study on, because then i get to explore even greater the relationship i would have with a future career. (the only relationship i am concerned with at the current time) :p
i am already hinted by the fact that the international court of justice is situated in The Hague, that i would enjoy learning about it because it holds sentimental value to my heart as i grew up in The Hague!
all in all, i feel thankful for the opportunities i have to pursue this education, to have the choice to choose, to have the courage to work in a foreign state and country, and to have the friends and family who have supported me emotionally and financially.
i am also glad i have you :p to read about my journey :p
so to anyone out there seeking to study a law course, and are in doubt of how they would feel as a human being vulnerable and unprepared when thrown into a sea of draconian dispute, please, be advised that you are and will always be the person you have always known yourself to be.
and that whatever it is laid down upon your plate, you shall embrace with positivity, an endearing soul and an ambitious mind, in voicing your views which will, in the little water they may hold, indubitably change a life, or even many.
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