I am on call for jury duty this week. I am not lucky at raffles. I am not lucky at lottos. I never find the golden egg or the prize in the cake or win the Dream House sweepstakes on HGTV or any of that sort of thing. I never win anything. (Well, mostly never....) But getting called, repeatedly, for jury duty? I'm your girl!
I do think that it is the duty of every American citizen to willingly serve on a jury, when asked. I take my civic duty seriously and I don't try and weasel out of going. But, in all honesty, I hate it. I hate the idea that I might make a mistake and vote the wrong way on a verdict. I worry that I have missed something, or not understood something, that the implications of some little detail has eluded my attention. But mostly I hate the waiting.
You wait for your name to be called. You wait for the clerk to arrive. You wait for a number for voir dire. You wait in the jury assembly room, which is alternatingly either too hot or too cold. You wait for ever. And ever.
But then they throw you a bone! When I called in this evening to see if my group was called for tomorrow, I discovered that I am not required to go in! I have, of course, to call in again tomorrow evening to see about Wednesday, but all day tomorrow is mine to do with as I please! I kept trying to figure out what the feeling of being unexpectedly free reminded me of and I finally got it....a snow day when I was in school.
Being a responsible citizen and doing your duty? Good. Not actually being picked for a jury? Better. Not having to go in to the courthouse at all? Priceless!
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