I look at government, whether federal, state, or local, and I think ugh – why can’t they get anything done? Why is failing to do anything considered doing a good job? Why are schools underfunded? Why are the roads full of holes? Why is there a system that lets our politicians not approve budgets and get things done? What happened to our government? All politicians want to do is talk about reproduction – what about leading?
It doesn’t have to be all bad – not at all. Service to our country is still alive. I can attest as I just served on jury duty for two days. I didn’t make it onto a jury, but I did go through the process – as did dozens of my fellow Seattle residents – of showing up and being prepared to do my civic duty.
We all went downtown, we sat in a room for two days, and we followed the rules and did what we’re supposed to do. When I got called to possibly sit on a jury (I finally heard my name called on the second day), I and the other potential jurors were carefully instructed on how to do things the right way, from getting in line so that we were in the right order, to how to answer questions by the judge and the lawyers, to how we must treat the defendant as innocent until proven guilty.
The city’s lawyer kicked me off the jury for reasons that didn’t make sense to me, but she was doing her job. Others were given the boot as well – we went back and waited and sat and waited and sat for the rest of the afternoon. Meanwhile six people stayed and had to prepare themselves to mete out justice – no easy task but something that had to be done. The system worked, everyone did what they were supposed to do, and work got done.
The buck didn’t get passed to the next session – the next congress, the next legislature, the next council. Although it was tedious to sit there for two days, responsibilities were fulfilled, cases are completed, justice was served. At least something is sacrosanct.
Roots and Spokes 