Jury Duty…..Have you ever served? Last week I served on jury - TopicsExpress

Jury Duty…..Have you ever served? 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 dont 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. I said, Why dont they pay me what I make on my job for a days 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 honoured 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. 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 centre. I told him I had been to one yoga centre in the city and offered him the name. His eyes lit up, Thats 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 spare time 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. 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. 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.