Chandler criminal defense lawyer Matt Brown makes an astute observation.  Listening to a loud-talking probation officer in her 20s interview a defendant, it became clear:

After the probation officer finished, she shuffled past me with a faint smile on her face. I caught a glimpse of the defendant in the visitation room. He was grizzled, with a glass eye and scars everywhere. He was rail thin and had a head of curly black hair. I looked back at the probation officer. She waited impatiently to get buzzed out of the jail hallway while fiddling with her ponytail.

The stupid questions and the stark contrast between the probation officer and the defendant made a strong impression. She shouldn’t be in a position to report on him. He’s experienced things that she can’t even fathom. I’d guarantee it.

The coddled class judges society’s rejects.

I imagine the probation officer sitting in her office, surrounded by bric-a-brac as she types up a report about that man’s antisocial personality and escalating drug use. A judge will read what she writes and commit a fellow human being to state custody for a term of years. The judge may have struggled less in his or her life than the probation officer.

They grow up in lives of relative comfort and great expectations.  They do well in school, come home to meals cooked by their mother and advice dispensed by a father wearing a cardigan, and attend the university where they read great literature and obtuse philosophers.  Not too many know what it’s like to go to bed hungry.

Bobby Frederick in South Carolina picks up Matt’s theme, and takes it a step further.

The probation officer could just as easily be the man’s defense lawyer, the prosecutor, or any other person that comes into contact with him in the system and participates in determining his fate. I imagine that many readers of this blog and Matt’s may relate more to the probation officer in the story, and that many of those readers just don’t get it. Also, it’s an academic observation – the coddled among us are most often the ones who are privileged to attend universities, obtain degrees, and take positions of authority over the rest of us – that’s not going to change.

We all of the coddled class.  Defense lawyers, at least, have the opportunity to learn about a sphere of humanity that never had a chance to enjoy the wonderful opportunities we did, but that only helps if the lawyer has the metacognitive skills to see their relationship to others.  Most see nothing but themselves.

Both Matt and Bobby are relatively new lawyers, yet they consistently demonstrate a depth of observation and understanding that shows that they have what it takes to be great criminal defense lawyers.  No wasted energy on oozing self-absorbed  compassion without substance, as the Slackoisie are wont to do, but purposeful insight that furthers their grasp of the criminal justice system.

Throughout their legal careers, they will be confronted with real life as filtered through the prism of the coddled.  Judges, prosecutors, probation officers and yes, even defense lawyers, will recoil from the smell of a troubled life.  We can’t conceive of how some miscreant ended up lying in the street in a pool of his own vomit rather than sitting for the college boards.  After all, they had the chance to go to school, just like us, but took the path toward a life of misery.  They made the choice not to be like us, to someday wear a cardigan and lecture our daughters on dating etiquette.

The truth is that many don’t have lives that resemble our own experiences in any way.  We could parse it and point to bad choices, often by parents, cops, teachers and others who could have helped but instead became a guide down the road to perdition.  But every junkie, mugger and dealer has a tale of his own.  It’s just not our tale. We have done so much better with our lives that we believe ourselves entitled to judge them.  We did right. They did wrong.  We win.

There are many people out there who have led lives of deprivation and misery.  Many have made some very poor choices, taking an ugly existence and making it worse.  Some are poorly educated.  Some are dumb as dirt.  Some are sociopathic and some are malevolent. Some are just sad and pathetic.

The coddled class judges them all harshly.  They are unsalvageable, or if they can be saved, it’s just not worth the effort or the risk that some of their stench will rub off on us.  The coddled class looks in the mirror every day, making sure their hair looks attractive, before they pretend to help those less fortunate.  It’s not that they don’t mean well, but that they share no understanding of the life of those they judge.

It’s impressive that Matt and Bobby realize this, as so many don’t even though they think that disconnected empathy makes them worthy of judging others.