Chicago Tribune

“It’s sad but I am getting paid to have this sign removed, he said looking at my print.”

That was an interesting way to start a conversation. We were in my booth at the art festival in Chicago. Ironically we were standing next to Tribune Tower on Pioneer Court right below the Chicago Tribune sign. The symbol of Chicago. And this man apparently was trying to remove it.

“What do you mean?”, I asked and my raised eyebrows expressed the utter confusion.

He said: “Well, I am a lawyer and my firm is involved in this nasty lawsuit. New owner of the building wants to keep the sign, the old owner doesn’t want it. It’s a lawsuit. It’s unpleasant.”

Later I read in the Chicago Tribune, the newspaper, that the lawsuit was settled and the sign would stay. But I kept thinking about that man, the lawyer. As a Chicagoan he was clearly proud of the Chicago Tribune sign. He probably showed it to his out-of-town friends while walking down Michigan Avenue. But as a lawyer he was fighting to remove it. He had to do unpleasant things.

What is the moral of this story? Don’t become famous for doing something you don’t love.