in Checking In

Call to duty

I’ve been tapped for jury duty and will thus report Monday morning to the Wake County courthouse. It’s not my first jury duty at Wake County: the last time I was summoned was perhaps 1995. Of course, I showed up for jury duty in federal court recently but wasn’t selected to serve. Prior to that I was asked to serve on the day my son Travis was born. I was excused for that one, needless to say!

Serving on a jury is disruptive, inconvenient, and sometimes costly. I could make a good case for dismissal, being that I’ll be lone parent around for the kids for most of this week. Still, I feel that would be weaseling out. If I expect our police officers to keep us safe, then I owe it to them, the defendants, and society as a whole to accept the call to weigh guilt or innocence. I take my duties as a citizen very seriously.

I don’t expect I’ll be blogging from the building but I will take mental notes of the experience and share them here afterward.


Update:
I found out later that my jury number’s high enough that I won’t be needed after all.