Jury duty

I finally wrote it!  I tried to publish this yesterday but my computer was acting up, so here you go, a bonus post today!  BBS has been serving jury duty.  I'm pretty sure I just heard a mass groan on that one, but let me share my perspective.  Our Judicial System is flawed.  It's slow, it's cold and it makes mistakes.  But the reason it makes mistakes is because it's run by humans, and we humans are inherently flawed.  However, I'm a big believer that if we don't participate in the system, we have no right to criticize it.  I'm not sure if I've ever mentioned this before (seems like all bloggers do a "meet me" at some point, but I've been going through my old posts and don't see one.  I may be seriously slacking here!) but I used to be a juvenile probation officer.  In the juvenile system, there is no such thing as a jury of your peers, so all the power falls to the judge and unfortunately I saw first hand what could happen if a judge or prosecuting attorney didn't like a kid.  So while the adult system is definitely flawed, the jury helps keep some of that in check.  I have to think that if I would ever make some big mistake, or be accused of something I didn't do, that I would appreciate the opportunity to be judged by a jury of my peers than by one lone person who could chose not to like me.  And because of that, while I know our system is pretty screwed up, and while I know it's a real pain to serve jury duty, I also believe it's quite an honor to be able to help someone else process through such a difficult time.  I know it has been a huge hassle for BBS and the kids have really taken it hard not having her around 24/7, but I'm so proud of her dedication and I know I'm lucky to love someone who so willingly serves her community.