I'll try not to do this again for a looooooooong time, m'kay.
Ever open your mouth and just wished you could do a big rewind?
Bear in mind, I've been extremely sleep deprived lately (Can you say 3 hrs or so per night?) It's never a good idea to disagree when your tactful part of the brain has gone on vacation....
I'm in this Yahoo Group and one of the members was unhappy about being chosen for jury duty and the probability of not knitting for a while. There were suggestions on how to get out of it.
OK, nobody wants to pull jury duty. BUT (It's that big ole but again) in this country we have the awesome privilege of voting for our leadership, protesting when we feel our leadership is screwing up, we're innocent until proven guilty, and so on and so on... One of the obligations we have in exchange for these privileges is that when we register to vote, we do so with the understanding that we could be called for jury duty.
(Yes, we vote at our house. I took my kid to the polls with me from the time he was 4 years old and explained to him that it was important. We get to hire politicians - this goes from local council members up to the president of the country. We hire the one we think will do the best job for the most people. If we don't think they're doing a good job, we "hire" someone else to work for us the next round. )
Ever open your mouth and just wished you could do a big rewind?
Bear in mind, I've been extremely sleep deprived lately (Can you say 3 hrs or so per night?) It's never a good idea to disagree when your tactful part of the brain has gone on vacation....
I'm in this Yahoo Group and one of the members was unhappy about being chosen for jury duty and the probability of not knitting for a while. There were suggestions on how to get out of it.
OK, nobody wants to pull jury duty. BUT (It's that big ole but again) in this country we have the awesome privilege of voting for our leadership, protesting when we feel our leadership is screwing up, we're innocent until proven guilty, and so on and so on... One of the obligations we have in exchange for these privileges is that when we register to vote, we do so with the understanding that we could be called for jury duty.
(Yes, we vote at our house. I took my kid to the polls with me from the time he was 4 years old and explained to him that it was important. We get to hire politicians - this goes from local council members up to the president of the country. We hire the one we think will do the best job for the most people. If we don't think they're doing a good job, we "hire" someone else to work for us the next round. )
3 comments:
I don't think you said anything wrong. In my state you receive paperwork that says you've been selected for jury duty and gives you the time and date. You call the night before to see if you need to report or not. Of course both times I've been called my name hasn't been on the recording to get out of it.
So I go in with some books and a knitting project or two, sit in a room, get instructions on how important it is to be there, wait, wait, and wait. Then end up getting sent home after lunch.
Do I want to be there? No. But in our society you are entitled to a jury of your peers. It's my responsibility to be there.
I'm on that list, and I was glad to see you chime in the way you did. I'm serving my 5th run of 6 months jury duty now (over the last 15 years, I think). I don't enjoy it, it's a pita to get ready for a substitute for my class, and I can't knit there.
But I keep thinking if I were ever in the situation where I needed a jury to sit in judgment of me, I'd want people LIKE me to be there - you know, thoughtful, somewhat intelligent, committed to doing what's right, and a believer in the system.
And I took each of my 6 children into the voting booth with me, too. ;-)
Kay
I commend your for saying what you did. I actually read all those comments in the original group site. I was a bit surprised that someone would talk about getting out of jury duty so publicly. I've served on a jury previously and have been called multiple times where I haven't been placed on the jury panel. Was it convenient? No, not really. It involves a long train ride to the city and a long walk from the station to the courthouse. It involves hours of waiting around. But it is an obligation we all share. I am sure if the person who was worried about being able to knit was involved in some litigation she would want to know she was being heard by a competent jury of her peers. Bravo to you for expressing your opinion.
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