Bon Père de Famille? // How Reasonable is the Man?

BY DIANA STEPNER
STUDENT AT MCGILL FACULTY OF LAW

Law, like love, is only as good as the people sharing it.

Law, like love, can be good.

Law, like love, can be bad.

Law, like love, can be many things, some things, nothing, everything.

Like an abusive husband, law’s partners may stay out of adoration, convinced the cruelty within this relationship is better than anything outside it.

Like an abusive husband, law’s partners may stay out of fear, convinced that any attempt to escape this relationship would result in death before they ever managed.

Like an abusive husband, law’s partners may stay out of fidelity, convinced that they deserve the punishments they suffer, because law says it is so.

Like an abusive husband, law’s partners may rise up in anger, topple the relationship and start anew, for better or for worse.

Or, like a caring husband, law’s partners may stay, comforted within the embrace

of mutual respect, safety, history and understanding.

Let us not expect less from law, let us expect more from people.

Let us not expect less from love, let us expect more from people.

Inspired by the poem Law, Like Love – WH Auden