The Oldest Profession

Who knew that the oldest profession known to humans was the practice of law? I suspect lawyers knew. There are probably some secret societies such as *Skull an Bones* and *Horseradish and Heels* which know, too.

Now, I'm fully aware that I've glossed over 1,000 years of history with the line about ancient Greeks and Romans. It was the ancient Greek societies that first used the terms "liberty," "freedom," and "citizen," which cannot be overstated. These city-states were, in fact, the forebear of all that we consider "freedom" today, in that free people have the right to have a say in not only their government, but in the choices made by that government. Today we consider democracy as "freedom" in the sense that by electing government officials we are exercising our right to guide decision making. The truth of the matter is, in the ancient Greek city-states, *every* decision was put to referendum to the free citizens. Now **that's** democracy in action. Imagine trying to organise that level of exercise today.

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