A Civics Lesson

As I traveled down to the Superior Courthouse that morning, I felt certain that even if by chance I made it into the jury box for voir dire, I would not be selected. Wouldn’t they want someone who had not already sat on a jury, let alone two juries? I was confident that one of the sides would excuse me due to my prior service. I was also kind of hoping that I’d get there, wait around for a while and then be excused. It’s happened before, it could happen again, right? I was already thinking ahead about getting released before noon, rushing home to get my dog and head out for a nice daytime off-leash hike. As it turns out, prior service didn’t seem to matter to them and I didn’t get to go on the hike I had been daydreaming about.

After waiting in a long line to be screened by the metal detector, I made my way to upstairs to the jury room. There I turned in half of the form and kept the small portion that was to become my juror badge. I also signed a piece of paper giving my measly $15/day jury pay back to the court system. If you get paid your regular salary during jury duty you must forfeit the fee. I understand the reasoning behind that, but it would be nice to get to keep it – at least that would pay for lunch. I also think you have to claim it as income on your taxes. They give you a measly $15 AND you have to claim it? That just doesn’t seem right. Those who actually get to keep their jury pay don’t get paid for the first day, only subsequent days. At least I get mileage after the first day so that’s something, since they saw fit to send me to a court 20 miles away when there are two court houses within 2 miles of my house. Did I mention that the mileage is less than the Federal rate? Sheesh.

After taking care of the paperwork, I sat down to hurry up and wait along with the other 75-100 people there. Looking around, I observed that my fellow potential jurors were all ages, races and apparent income brackets. It was a pretty good random sampling if you ask me. Out of general respect for the courtroom I had dressed as if I were going to the office - a skirt and blouse. Some, like me, were dressed in semi-business attire; men wearing slacks and a shirt, women wearing a blouse and slacks, but I noticed that a lot of others were dressed in jeans and t-shirts. I even saw one person wearing cut-offs and flip flops. Everyone was doing something: The woman across from me was knitting; some were doing crosswords, reading the paper or doing stuff on their laptops.

An older Asian woman came and sat down to my right. She was holding her jury duty notice in her hands and positively beaming as she rocked slightly in her chair.
I smiled and said, “Good morning.
She pointed to herself and said in a heavy accent, “Citizen. One year!”
Her pride in being a US Citizen was overwhelmingly apparent. She held up one finger to me to emphasize the time and said again, “one year!” She kept looking down at the form and grinning and then back up me.
“Congratulations.” I really meant it.
"One year citizen, now I am jury duty," she said, lifting her chin.
My initial resentment about being summoned again instantly evaporated and I decided right then to have a better attitude about it. To the rest of us jury duty was a chore, a bother, a hassle, an inconvenience; to this new citizen, getting to take part in the judicial system was an honor. And you know, she’s right. It is an honor to get to take part and I think we Americans often take our rights and responsibilities for granted.

I just wish I could see the look on her face on Election Day.