Guess Who's Back...

A small, palm-sized red and blue colored book entitled “United States Constitution” with the words “ELON LAW” bolded in white across the bottom: the last thing I read before I fell asleep last night, and the first thing I read when I awoke seven hours later. It simply screams “nerd alert!” but I don’t mind. This is my future. The only way I can achieve my goals is to partake in a lifestyle of gaining new knowledge day after day, even if that means reading a document that is hundreds of years old.

So, sure, I wasn’t just reading this for fun. I am in the middle of internship applications for the summer in Washington, D.C., thus I was just polishing up on some of the language of this governing document. Although this small book does contain the entire United States Constitution, I was specifically reading the back pages, which are “insights from North Carolina lawyer-leaders,” which contains personal testimonies like the following: “A truly independent judiciary is a point of the utmost moment in a Republic where the Law is superior to any of all the Individuals and the Constitution superior even to the Legislature, and of which the Judges are the guardians and protectors.”

            It’s quite terrifying, because I don’t know exactly what I want to do in this realm. I am fascinated by the words and concepts put forth by this small booklet, but how do I want to get involved? How am I going to contribute to the magnificence of a document that runs the nation in which I live? I’ve thought about this for years. Perhaps I want to become a defense attorney and protect those whose constitutional rights have been violated. Or, perhaps I wish to work in the realm of prosecution, where I work on behalf of the government against those who violate the terms put forth by the Constitution. I haven’t quite yet decided what I want to do, and every time somebody asks me what area of law I want to specialize in, I feel “stupid” for saying “constitutional law” because in reality, what even is constitutional law? After touring multiple law schools and realizing that many do not have constitutional law as a specialization, I’m a tad bit worried about what I will specialize in. I already know that I have a strong dislike for all things business, tax, and real-estate, so I definitely will not be concentrating on those; however, the more law students I talk to, the more I hear that changing one’s specialization is quite common. So, maybe, one day, you’ll catch me on the news for winning a huge tax fraud case. Who knows!

            Living with extremely high anxiety and not knowing what I want to do in my career is scary, but I have to remind myself to take things step by step, day by day. Reading my mini-Constitution is just one small step towards success in my future. If I am not offered any internships for the summer, I must remind myself that it won’t be the end of the world, and that there are many opportunities to achieve my goals in other ways. I’m sure that there are many 20-year-olds who would not want to end their days by reading the United States Constitution, but then again, that’s just me.