Jury Duty 3/28/2022

 Good Morning,

My dad and grandfather used to say "Rise and shine. It is daylight in the swamp". That meant, it was time to get out of bed and get going. So I am up, prayers lifted up and a cup of Door County Jamaican Blue Mountain Blend Coffee is trying to straighten me out. 

Proverbs 18:17 The first one to plead his cause seems right, until his neighbor comes and examines him. 

It looks like I am in line to possibly be a juror this week. I received my letter of call to duty a few weeks ago. I will admit this. Once I saw the letter I can't say that I was thrilled to be called. Our county does not make it easy to be a juror, including no where to park without paying a heavy monetary price. It seems as if they work hard to have the jurors inconvenienced while they serve their duty. Probably not a good thing to tick off the jury before they even hear a case. 

But with all calls to perform a duty, we need to put it in the right perspective and prepare our hearts and minds for the task. If chosen, one needs to be impartial and listen to the facts and the facts only. You must be able to decide if the person is guilty or innocent beyond any doubt. No assumptions should be made without hearing both sides and convicting with any prejudice. Remain prejudice free. 

This call to be a juror has me thinking about how we might be jurors all the time. We listen to the news and form opinions, usually without all the facts and all we hear  is one side of the story. So we make a decision without all the facts. For instance, your teenage daughter or spouse gets into a car accident and the auto it totaled. The other driver was faulted with speeding or something like that. You see your kid or spouse all banged up  and you are angry. In your heart and mind you have convicted the other driver as a moron, and a speeding idiot. But later you find out that your beauty queen was driving while applying her make makeup and drinking a cup of iced macchiato. No way could she be paying attention to the road ahead or driving defensively.

As humans we play judge and jury all day long and we tend to jump to conclusions and assumptions before we speak or react. It is better to wait a little bit before handing down the sentence in your mind to consider all the facts and then act accordingly or maybe not react at all. "A foot is best left on the ground and used to walk with, instead of inserting it into your mouth."

You work hard enough already, It's not in your job description to play God, judge and jury as well as hangman. Slow down before making any rash remarks or decisions. There might be more to the story.

Marty