Letters to Gibran

Chapter 2

My fingers raced frantically across my keyboard as my eyes kept flickering towards the clock. I had a deadline that was just around the corner, hitting the two minute mark. If I wanted to be dramatic right now, it was like trying to find a charger when you're phone is on one 1 percent. You only found yourself racing against time. Once I reached the 500 word limit for the tutorial summary which would guarantee me a reasonable mark, I submitted it, gathering my laptop and making my way to the lecture.

I had only been in university for just over a week now and so far my mental to do list had exceeded way past the capacity of brain storage. I had three quizzes to complete within two days. A 1500 word critical analysis due on Friday and a 700 word peer review. I'm not going to even mention the tasks that needed doing for next week.

Yep! I really was living the law student life. I just never anticipated the relentless workload.

As the students began to enter the lecture hall, I scrambled to find a comfortable seat which I found in the fifth aisle from the front. I opened my laptop and skimmed over my notes before the lecturer took over the podium and his voice projected through the microphone.

"Can you all hear me at the back?" His question echoed through the hall.

The crowd that was lined up in the back replied with a yes in unison.

"Great" He clapped his hands.

"Last week I told you all that I liked to begin my lectures with a question. So to start off this lecture I am going to ask another question? Now you may disagree with each other but then again that's the whole point of being a lawyer". He laughed a little too hard for his own joke.

I opened a blank document, ready to type the question so I had some time to answer it in depth.

"In the ancient world, many nations closely resembled a lawless society. For example, Arab nations before Islam or even Christianity had come into practice were lawless, with many Arabs travelling in tribes and having their own rules and regulations that they abided by. Scholars have said that Arabs mainly relied on morals rather than a set of laws as their foundation of society. Now this practice went on for years without any issues before these nations were established and political systems were put into place. Now thinking back to our own context, do you think if all countries had implemented this structure, where there were no judicial or courts and instead they relied on morals or rules within their own communities, could this work. Why or why not?"

Nathan 

Hands began to fly up around the lecture in no organised rhythm. The question was such a straightforward one yet still carried a certain complexity to it. The answer was of course no. The world we lived in today was different to the one 2,000 or even 4,000 years ago. There was no struggle for power, no clashes between religion and no war against terrorism.

I raised my hand before I had even put together a correctly built sentence in my head.

"Yes, young man in the back corner," the lecturer pointed in my direction.

"Well any sane person would say no. We can't possibly compare ourselves to a civilisation that existed before monotheistic religions. I don't think 2,000 years ago terrorism had existed and people were trying to cut each others heads off". I felt good sitting there like a king in his throne. I noticed the way people around me were turning and looking my way, intrigued by my opinion.