Jury Duty

"You think the average jurist is King Solomon?
No! He's a roofer with a mortgage. He wants to
go home and sit in his barcalounger and let cable
tv wash over him. This man doesn't give a single
solitary drop of sh-- about truth, justice, or your
American Way."

from Runaway Jury; Speech by Gene Hackman's
character Jury Consultant Fitch.

~~~~~~~~~~
And, sadly, this seems too true. When cable goes
down is about the ONLY time you hear public
outcry~~ their legalized, anesthetic has been
interupted.

It is time to view jury duty as something other
than a chore. It is in actuality, a privilege. One
that felons no longer have the right to. One that
many nations deny their citizens.

This came to me today and I thought it had a
wonderful perspective on jury duty. {My comments
are enclosed..}

~~~~~~~~~~

Last week I served on jury duty.

When I received the notice in the mail, I admit
like most people I sighed and said, "I don't have
time for this; I have too much to do."

I also thought about the mere $25 I would get
paid for the whole day. {Houston, Tx only paid $6
a day 10 years ago--barely paid for your parking in
downtown!}

I said, "Why don't they pay me what I make on
my job for a day's work?" But then, the
thought came to me, "What if I were the one
with the case and needed jurors to attend
my trial?"

From that moment on, I was honored to serve on
jury duty.

Besides, if everyone were paid what they made
on their jobs, taxes would go up and we would
pay it one way or another.

As I sat in the juror assembly room, I looked
around and noticed that these jurors made up
our society. {This is a good thing. A roofer is
just as capable of coming to the truth as a
Doctor or educator or whatever degree earned.
Being blue collar as opposed to white collar
doesn't negate intelligence! In fact, the more
overly educated a person, the less common
sense --I have found.}

Even though we were all different in many
ways, we were all connected and the same
in many ways.

A man sitting behind me looked as though
he had nothing at all in common with me.
He asked me what I did, and I told him. I
asked him the same, and he said he owned
a yoga center. I told him I had been to one
yoga center in the city and offered him the
name. His eyes lit up, "That's the one I own,"
he responded. He told me it was a small world.

Sometimes it is not the size of the world
that we overestimate as it is the link
between us all that we underestimate.

The other observance that became apparent
to me while waiting were the activities people
performed while waiting to be selected for a
courtroom. It reflected what they did with their
sparetime in life.

Some people were asleep; sleep was important
to them.

Some people were working on their laptops; work
had to be done.

Some people were reading the newspaper. They
wanted to stay abreast of what was going on in
the world.

Some people were reading books. They
understood the power of reading. {If I wasn't
grading papers, I would've been reading--John
Grisham has always been a favorite! :o) I never
leave the house without a book and water.}

Some people were talking to others. They enjoyed
good conversation.

Others were watching television. They just
wanted to be entertained.

Some looked at this time waiting as time wasted.

Others looked at it as a blessing to finally be
able to slow down for a minute and take a breather.

Jury duty was representative of life.The same
time, the same job, the same place, the same
pay, and the same responsibility represented
different things to different people.

Just like life, the jury duty selection process
will seem like they are picking on you at times.
I have been here four times in the past five years,
yet my mother is over twice my age and has never
been summoned. {I've been twice and twice was
hastily excused. I think being a Southern Baptist
educator had something to do with it......}

The next time you are summoned for
jury duty, imagine it was your case and be
thankful for the freedom realized in the
judicial system.

While waiting to be chosen to perform your duty,
take notice of how you spend your time.

By the way, I wrote three MountainWings
issues while waiting. I had intentions of writing
them for weeks and just now found the time.

~A MountainWings Original by James Bronner~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Great perspective!

C~B~N

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