Bob Goff"s LOVE DOES Chapter 6 "Go buy your books!"

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Bob Goff’s LOVE DOES Chapter 6 “Go buy your books!”

W hen I told my parents I was applying to law school, they looked at me like I was proposing to remove my own liver. You have to understand, my parents are both educators. I wasn’t the smartest kid growing up. I’d bring home my grades and they’d look at me, wondering how the pear fell so far from the apple tree. When I graduated from high school, they gave me brochures for vocational schools that taught courses on engines, electronics, and plumbing. I think they pictured me installing low-voltage landscape lighting for the rest of my life. I did too.

I got into college and graduated with a degree in something I still know little about, and my grades reflected my wafer-thin understanding of the subject matter. It wasn’t that I didn’t try hard in college. I was just bored and searching for a good match for my particular wiring harness. I wanted to do things that would make a difference in the world. My professors, however, wanted me to do things that would make a difference in my grade point average. I spent most of college surfing and trying to figure out how I could help people in crisis here and abroad and make some kind of lasting contribution to the world. I didn’t want to be a a think you can’t love God or be a nice guy and still be a lawyer, but I was betting I could.

There is a big test called the LSAT you need to take before applying to law schools. All the schools look at your score on the test, then decide if they’ll let you in. I knew the test was important, so I bought a paperback book on the LSAT at the local bookstore. It was about an inch thick, cost me $7.95, and I read it cover to cover at least three times before signing up for the exam. The book was  an easy read, and it seemed simple enough. Most of the book was on how you sign up for the test.

When the big day for the exam arrived, I got to the test site an hour early. This was my shot at law school. The people sitting around me ranged from well-coiffed prep school types to late-night procrastinators still in their pajamas. Regardless of their outward appearance, though, everyone asked what review class I had taken to prepare for the LSAT. “Did you take the Princeton Review? Or was it BARBRI?” I heard four or five names of two-month-long review courses and estimated that the average height of prep materials everyone had about five feet tall. It was apparent that I was woefully underprepared and my glazed-over look gave me away. “Hey, dude, are you okay?” one of the test-takers said, assuming a “surfer guy” persona because it probably seemed like the only way he could break through to me.

“Review class? There’s a class you can take to prepare for this test?” was all I could choke out. I looked down at my measly dog-eared prep book, a mere 105 pages, and sighed as I threw it in a nearby trash can.

Bob Goff’s LOVE DOES Chapter 6 “Go buy your books!”

Bob Goff"s LOVE DOES Chapter 6 "Go buy your books!"