Paula Franzese

Paula A. Franzese is the Peter W. Rodino Professor of Law at Seton Hall University Law School, visiting professor of Political Science at Barnard College & author of the Short & Happy Guide series. Known as a top law professor in the country, Franzese has served as Special Ethics Counsel to two governors, Chair of the State Ethics Commission, and Vice-Chair of the Election Law Enforcement Commission. She teaches Property Law, Commercial Law, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, and First Amendment Values courses at Seton Hall and Barnard College. She teaches Civics and Loving the Law to middle school children. Check out her book series by clicking the link above!

The Work, Paula Franzese, Peter W. Rodino Professor of Law

Continue to be grateful for the work. It will be your safe harbor against the heartbreaks and sorrows of this life. Keep in mind that you do it not so much for your own sake but on behalf of the countless people and constituencies, most still nameless and unknown to you, who nonetheless are waiting for you to use your emerging expertise to make their lives better. And you will.

Do the work to vindicate the legacy and sacrifice of those on whose shoulders you stand. Do it because in these fraught times and in a world so preoccupied with status, the magnificent pedigree of a good education will give you the status that affords access to power. You will use that power wisely, with both technique and compassion. One cannot be reliably sustained without the other.

Particularly when there is so much to do, and it sometimes feels that we push that boulder up the mountain only to have it tumble down again, I remain mindful of Camus' choice to interpret the myth of Sisyphus through a lens of hope. Camus writes that while some might see only futility in the task at hand, he chooses instead to see the nobility of the very effort. He notes,"The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man's heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy."

Optimism is a daily choice. So is love. Do the work so that it might become "love made visible."

Do the work to ease the suffering of others. Let your relentless commitment to a greater good shake people out of their cynicism and prompt them to question whether they are right about their harsh judgments of the world. When they try to convict humanity, be their basis for reasonable doubt.