The Tao of Public Service: A Memoir: on Seeking True Purpose

As a little one, hearing JFK speak for the first time made me want to be just like him. For some reason, his words went straight to my heart, filling my heart with something wonderful. It is a feeling that I later came to understand as a desire to serve-to pursue a life of public service. My desire was for this ideal. These feelings have taken me on a long and tortuous journey. I have been a public servant most of my life. I have gone from a poor little black child, laborer, contractor, and teacher, to politician, lawyer, and judge. But strangely enough, my journey did not end there. My journey did not end with political success. Strangely enough, I discovered that my desire and my ideal meant something deeper and even more wonderful. I discovered that it meant something above and beyond politics-something for everyone. I discovered something good for every single person: the ideal life, a life of true purpose. Not something for the far-distant future, but something that can be achieved in the here and now. And I want to share my experiences of this process (the Tao) with you.