You know how you go to jury duty and you always expect that you won't get picked because everyone you know got out of it somehow?  Well I got picked.  The experience has made me quite thoughtful though.  So here's what I've been thinking:

1.  As much as we all dislike being torn from our comfortable lives to go serve as a juror, somebody's got to do it.  Just imagine that you had to go to court over something that you needed a jury to decide and they didn't show up because they didn't feel like it.  That would be awful!  How terrible it must make the people involved in the case feel when they see the jury being selected.  And they see people making faces and complaining that they got picked.  So my thoughts are when you show up for jury duty be respectful, don't grumble, don't roll your eyes, don't lie to try to get out of it....that's a real person there who needs your help. 

2.  The case I got picked for was a simple one - and I was thankful - but I did have to go back the second day to finish up the case.  That was an inconvenience but then I reminded myself, it is meerly an inconvenience.  Not a burden.  I'm not the one who has been dealing with lawyers and courts for 4 years or having to go to doctor's over and over to get treatment for an injury. 

3.  I am grateful I didn't get a more difficult or emotional case.  While we, the jury were in deliberating, our same courtroom was being used to decide a $6million case regarding a child born with major birth defects due to negligence.  I'm not sure I could have made it through that one without a lot of tears.  God knows I lack self control in the tear department - He knows my limits!  Also another juror shared that she had been seated on a rape case the last time she came and it was horrible with people shouting at each other and jurors neding to be replaced and during the selection process so many women were not selected because they themselves had been raped.  She said it was tragic to see how many women.  So I've been thinking a lot about how it could have been if I had been selected for a different kind of case.

4.  The courthouse is an interesting place.  The procedure of having a case tried is interesting and everything is done so formally, I love it.  I love the structure and ceremony and the quiet of the courtroom.  It's been a long time since I have been in a room full of people and didn't talk.  It was cool to see I actually could go that long without talking.  So different from my everyday life of constantly answering children's questions or directing them in one way or another.

5.  And lastly but as always, I'm thinking what an educational field trip this would be.  I know I couldn't take my little ones there with having to be so quiet and all but older kids who are trying to figure out what they want to be in life, should sit in a few courtrooms and watch it all unfold.

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