A Contributing Member of Society"My immediate goal is to be admitted to Law School. I know that I will be able to receive a first-rate education that will enable me to achieve my potential as a contributing member of society As a young boy, I dreamed of becoming a police officer or a firefighter. Of course, many young boys my age harbored similar aspirations. However, I was not attracted to these. professions because of their obvious action and bravado What made the people who did this work special to me was that they stood up for others when they couldn't help themselves, they. represented justice. My father's work as a sales agent for the Teamsters union and later as president of Local 100 of the Transit Workers Union was always mired in important negotiations. My father advocated for and obtained better wages, benefits and working conditions for his fellow public servants. It became clear to me that my father was performing a necessary, if not noble, service in helping hard-working people achieve better livelihoods. What was hard for me to understand was that he had to fight for this. I asked him why the union was often at odds with the city. He explained that city government has competing responsibilities to its workers, taxpayers and bottom line. In other words, they had to make the transit system work efficiently. The point he was trying to make is that there are two sides to every conflict and that usually neither side is totally right or totally wrong. It is a conviction that I hold in very high esteem today. This can apply to everything from work relationships to a murder trial, and even to situations as trivial as quarrels between neighbors. By the time I got to high school, I was fascinated by the social sciences. I enjoyed my civics, government and history classes. During my high school studies, I became more interested in law and therefore in its practice. This interest must have been sparked by my passion for helping people, my father's work and improving society..