On Jury Duty

Originally I was going to call this post "La bitch, c'est moi"...now that some time has elapsed, I'm feeling that's not a very nice thing to call someone. Even if I'm talking about myself.

Here's the thing about jury duty. It's like opening the heating bill: not pleasant, yet it must be dealt with. Or perhaps you've experienced root canal. Haven't had that pleasure, but then, if presented with a root canal scenario, I might opt for gluing my mouth shut.

My experience: The whole first week of trial I felt like my head had literally split clean in half. Struck by a little phenom known as tension headaches, which I've suffered from only one other time in my life - a big D comes to mind - I felt like I'd been hit by a bus every day. Perhaps it was the overwhelming amount of information and paraphernalia being paraded before us. Perhaps it was that, in my mind, a day with no phone access is a day my little tornadoes will spontaneously combust and I won't know about it until long after they have vaporized. Whatever the reason, not fun.

By the start of week two these headaches magically disappeared for the remainder of the experience. In case you are wondering, the important words in that sentence are "week two." And that was just the trial.

It's all fun and games back in the jury room while the trial is going on. Since you can't talk about anything important, like the trial, you are free to be nice. You make a few friends, trade email addresses, share some magazines...yeah, we were a jolly bunch for a while there.

Then deliberations begin.

Consider this arrangement: twelve complete strangers are weighted down with a truckload of information, then locked in a room to collectively make enormous decisions that impact other strangers' lives. Well, guess what: that's how it works! And once that task settles in, the bloom is off the rose, my friends.

So about that other title I considered for this post: you know how sometimes in a group there's someone who says so little you may even forget that they've come along? To those of you who know me - um, sound like anyone you know??

Yeah, apparently I did not bring that personality along with me to deliberations. Every night I drove home in total bewilderment at my complete inability that day to shut the hell up. I mean really, just shut up! What's the deal? Who are you, Justice Girl? Every morning I drove back full of resolve that I would be my normal quiet self, and every night - bewildered. Could not shut up. Apparently, I can be opinionated and obstinate. Huh.

You know, it's over now. We carried out our duty and we did it with integrity. I'm not eager to ever do it again, yet there was a measure of satisfaction in the whole ordeal. Now that it's behind us. Now that I'm off the list for a few years. I better be off that damn list for a few years...