I'm going to come right out and admit it. I actually enjoyed my week-long experience of being part of a jury trial. Certainly some of it was dreadfully boring, and it often felt uncomfortable watching lawyers mercilessly interrogating witnesses, but overall, it was a good thing to do. I learned so much about how the court system works, and got to rub shoulders for days with people on the jury that I would probably never get to know in any other way. We didn't become fast friends and exchange phone numbers, but since we couldn't talk about the case until deliberation, we talked about our lives and experiences and there was lots of laughter and merriment (In a jury waiting room!) I loved how all of us, all different ages and coming from all walks of life, were able to co-exist happily and also work together cooperatively to reach a verdict when it was time to do so. We were awesome!
What was it about? It was a tedious civil case involving land use and monetary compensation. Our role as jurors was to hear all sides of the issues and decide on equitable compensation based on several different criteria. I am so very thankful that ours was a boring trial. Personally, I don't think I could have endured anything horrible. Now it's all over, and I can resume my "normal life", but with these new experiences my perspective of so many things has been subtly altered. And I'm glad about it.
1 comment:
Atta girl. I suppose 85% of the trials are boring ones like this...of course they don't make for good courtroom drama, so the rest of us never hear about them. Thank you Dorothy.
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