"The Waiting Game"

Have you ever served on a jury? Well I haven’t, but it’s getting closer for me! As I type this, I’m sitting in the jury lounge at the San Diego County Courthouse building in Vista, California, awaiting instructions. For the first time in all the years that I’ve been summoned for jury duty, I had my name called today, and boy, do I feel special.

Actually, I don’t know whether to be excited or apprehensive. A cousin, who will remain nameless, told me that of all the things he has detested in his life, serving on a jury was at the top of the list! At the other end of the ledger, the pleasant lady who spent an hour reciting instructions to us from the podium earlier today, says that this is one of the most wonderful contributions that we can make to society, and we should feel privileged to serve our country in this manner.

At first blush it seems to me that there is a certain aura of basic democracy in this process. Citizens are asked once a year to make themselves available for jury duty. It’s a level playing field. Yet, as I glance around, I don’t see any exceptional people in the room. Where are the millionaires and society favorites and philanthropists who dominate the photographs in San Diego Magazine? I saw no $100,000 vehicles in the parking lot (not even $50,000 SUV’s). Are the rich & famous exempt from this patriotic act?


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