Jury Duty

For the past week I've been on jury duty. For those who are not familiar with the one-trial system California has adopted, it goes like this: you get your summons in mail and are told to call in every night (beginning on a certain date) to find out if you have to report to the court house in person . If you have to report in person, you then drive to courthouse on the day you're told to appear (usually the next day at 8:30 a.m.) and spend the whole day there waiting and waiting for something (anything) to happen. If you're lucky you get to go to a courtroom and (possibly) have your number called to sit in the jury box as a potential juror. Otherwise, you pretty much sit in the courtroom and listen in case one of the prospective jurors is eliminated and your number gets picked to replace them. Once you get to the end of the day (usually around 4:00 p.m.), you're excused and don't have to be on jury duty again for at least a year.

The interesting thing about jury duty is the people you get to meet. I've been in jury duty 3 times in the last 7 years and each time I've managed to meet someone to talk to while we wait. The funny thing is that when I get a summons in the mail, I always think about the imposition, if there's anyway I can get out of it, or possbibly trying to move my service location so it's more convenient. Then, once I actually get there, I start feeling better about the whole thing and begin to enjoy myself. This time, I had actually hoped I might get on a trial but then remembered that I'm due to leave for Hawaii on Thursday.

Since I was assigned to the courthouse in Whittier, CA, I took advantage of the situation during lunch the lunch break and walked seven blocks to the historic district to indulge my love of old, historical homes. It was a cool, windy day and the walk was an easy one (only slightly uphill) and I saw some truly beautiful homes.

I guess the bottom line for jury duty, or any unhappy situation you may face in life, is that life is 99.9% attitude. If you have a crappy attitude, the experience will be an unpleasant one. If you find something positive about the same experience, it can turn out as good as you want it to be.

Please continue to pray for our troops. They need our support just as much now as ever.