Today, Dean Morse Tan spoke at the Lynchburg Bar Association monthly luncheon. His presentation was as compelling as his message.
Dean Tan spoke on lawyers, and the profession as a whole, finding the ethical moral core and operating from a place of principle.
He cited Leo Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Ilyich who realized, after a long and successful career as a lawyer, then judge, that everything he did was superficial and meaningless. The challenge for lawyers was how do we avoid that catastrophic result in our careers and lives?
His answer? Find your ethical moral core. We talk about a calling in the context of religion and ministry. But is it possible for a person to be called to the legal profession? He answered yes.
And his answer is that there is a greater story being written by a greater author. He used the example of the trajectory of his career following a path not of his design but of a greater design.
Tan’s challenge was for Lynchburg lawyers to look deeper than the superficial and meaningless. The superficial and meaningless leads to depression, anxiety, substance abuse, mental health issues, and a variety of other challenging circumstance.
