For just the third time since moving to my current city of residence, I have been summoned to jury duty. Despite that, I have yet to actually be on a jury; the closest I have come was an attempted murder trial where I didn’t make the cut. Unfortunately, the process of picking jurors took all day and into the night, so I didn’t even get to enjoy a partial day off. 😐

Most people approach jury duty with the same level of enthusiasm reserved for trips to the dentist, but it has never bothered me outside of having to wake up at oh-dark-thirty in a feeble attempt to get ahead of downtown traffic. Admittedly, I am blessed to have a career where I am paid for the days off. As fate would have it, this go-round falls the day before a planned long weekend, so one way or another it’s going to be a longer weekend now.

I get why most people dislike jury duty. Getting downtown is a pain, being herded into the Central Jury room and waiting for the fun to begin sucks, and for many folks it means getting a lousy paycheck the following week.

Juries are an important part of our justice system and a constitutional right guaranteed to citizens by the Constitution. Like voting, serving on a jury is our responsibility as citizens. Unlike voting, people don’t have much choice in the matter, so one may as well do the job and do it right once they’re there.

Besides, if you were on trial, would you want your freedom to be decided by twelve angry men?