Jury Duty

I have freakin’ frakkin’ jury duty tomorrow. There was a time when I would have looked forward to jury duty. The last time I was called, in fact, I did look forward to it. I was excited about the opportunity to serve on a jury and get an insider’s view of the justice system. I have been intrigued by the legal system for as long as I can remember. I took a constitutional law class in college and I was hooked. I loved the intricacy of it all, how every word is vitally important to the overall structure of the document or argument. At one point I had in fact decided to get a JD in constitutional law to compliment my PhD in political philosophy. To this day the idea of going to law school makes my heart race.

But today, I am dreading going to jury duty. I don’t really want anything to do with it. I have zero desire to get up early, drive downtown, fight for a parking spot and then sit in a crowded room with a hundred other people while the system decides what to do with us all. My husband has taken the day off to help with the kids while I deal with my civic duty. And I gotta tell you that sitting on uncomfortable chairs all day while my husband is off of work just irritates me. I hate that I have to give up a day of help to not get picked.

The last time I was called for jury duty I made it to the sit in the box and have the lawyers ask you questions part and I got so excited thinking “how could they possibly not pick me? I am intelligent and willing and most of all I want to be here!” Unfortunately, I am pretty sure all of those things are what got me passed over for the job. And to be quite frank, it pissed me off. Made me angry that by being smart and interested, I was unsuitable to be on a jury of my peers.

Maybe tomorrow I will stop paying attention and end all my sentences in prepositions.