My colleague Megan McClinton recently shared a quote from a Stephen King book that she’s reading that has really stuck with me because it rings so very true in family law:
“How much courage does it take to fire up your tractor and plow under a crop you spent six or seven years growing?’ he asked himself. ‘How much courage to go on and do that after you’ve spent all that time finding out how to prepare the soil and when to plant and how much to water and
when to reap? How much to just say, ‘I have to quit these peas, peas are no good for me, I better
try corn or beans.”
‘A lot,’ he said, wiping at the corners of his eyes again. ‘A damn lot, that’s what I think.”
-“Insomnia” by Stephen King
How much courage indeed? Every last one of our clients has to make that decision. The courage that decision takes can be quite overwhelming and from my viewpoint as the attorney, to watch someone display that courage can be quite awe-inspiring.
How much courage to plow up a crop that took six or seven years to grow when you know the peas are no good? How much courage to end a marriage that’s 6 months old? 10 years old? 30? 40? How much courage to say, “I’m miserable and don’t want to spend what’s left of my life miserable”? How much courage to say “I’m done ignoring the infidelity”? How much courage to say “I deserve to be loved”? How much courage to say “That’s the last time he hits me”?
A damn lot. That’s what I think.