Civic Duty

May 19

I am thankful for the honor of doing our civic duty by serving on jury pools and on juries. It is our system of freedom and justice that enables people to rest comfortably with the knowledge that all people are innocent until proven guilty and that our justice system will do its best to determine innocence or guilt and remove dangerous people from circulation so that they will do no further damage or harm to innocent people or commit further crimes. It also allows us to determine responsibility in civil cases. It is because citizens agree to do their civic duty by serving on jury pools and on juries if selected that our system of justice is possible. No system is perfect but our system requires that enough evidence is obtained to assure the most just verdict by a jury as possible.

A few weeks ago I served on my third jury pool during my adult life. I, as well as most of the several hundred people there did not really want to be thee but we were all willing to do our civic duty in return for the freedoms that we get to experience in our country. I have never been chosen to serve on a jury but have had a couple of close calls. One time it was for a case of a man's family who were suing a chemical company because he died of cancer. They were trying to convince the court that the man died due to chemical exposures from his job. When I was questioned by the lawyers, I was asked what I did for a living. When i told them I was a chemist who served as the safety officer at my job, they laughed and dismissed me. The good thing is that I got paid for serving on the jury pool. I made all of $14 the last time, which averaged out to considerably lower than minimum wage. Well, I don't think anybody does that job for the money (except for the attorneys, of course).  

This photo is of the bas relief over the entrance door at the Louisiana State capitol building in Baton Rouge. The Louisiana state motto is inscribed: Union, Justice, and Confidence. The scales of justice are shown above the pelican and also being held by the man below the inscription.

civic duty

justice is a word

that reminds us of right

for ethical treatment

to or not to indict

our civic duty

is required to support

the balance of justice

and our system of courts.

© rt tulley