Oath taking in Montpellier, France, April 2002

Before coming to Mayotte, I had some challenges in my life, either to become and remain a lawyer in a country that did not welcome me, or because, as an attorney, I took a stand for what seemed right. These challenges unfortunately contributed in shaping me, a somewhat flawed image that has followed me for many years, if not literally flown ahead of me.

Even in Mayotte where I was finally able to blossom professionally, this was the source of many misunderstandings and bias which jealousy sadly came to exacerbate. Being a believer, I accept them as some edicts of a fate that I cannot escape, and which, despite everything, have incredibly been favorable to me up to now, so far you know where I come from.

Oath taking in Montreal, Canada, October 2010

I don't allow anyone to be judgemental with me, for no one has ever been in my shoes and for your sake, I wish you don't have to. I fully assume my personality and the path that is mine. In the videos posted here, I summarize quickly these challenges, that undoubtedly made me in every way, the humanist and unique person I strongly claim I am.

The first video shows the challenges I faced before being granted access to a profession I love, from Montpellier to Mayotte, via Rodez, Bordeaux, Guadeloupe and even Quebec; whereas the second one is a short report of the disciplinary and correctional procedures that happen only to people like me, i.e. people with character, who are fond of fundamental liberties. Enjoy!

Life is a puzzle that can be brought together with courage

If you can keep your head when all about you
   Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
   But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
   Or, being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don’t give way to hating,
   And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
   If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
   And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
   Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
   And stoop and build ‘em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
   And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
   And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
   To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
   Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on”;

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
   Or walk with kings—nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
   If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run—
   Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

                 Rudyard Kipling                                       I was moderately a believer before. 
 If — 'Brother Square-Toes’— Rewards and Fairies               Now I believe in God with the distress of a castaway