People keep telling me I’m crazy because I’m sticking by my phone this week, on-call for jury duty. They joke about the excuses they’ve gotten away with to get out of serving and point out that I actually have several very valid reasons. So why don’t I duck the duty?
I’m willing to sit through long, draw-out lawyers’ talks and questionable evidence because that’s what I’d want other rational people to do if I or one of my loved ones were on trial. I fancy myself a caring, reasonable, thoughtful, logical person. That’s who I’d want judging me or mine. If everyone who has those characteristics were to duck jury duty, where does that leave our already-infirm judicial system and the accused people caught up in it?
To me, jury duty is my obligation, both to my society and to those on trial.