Jury Duty - the job everyone seems to dislike. The day I received that letter I knew it was going to ruin my week, like all other college students where my time could be better spent. The state of California picked me for the dreaded process, but back then I didn’t know I was going to have a great life experience that made me value and trust our civic duty.
It was August; I had just arrived from class. It was my turn to check the mail, which is regularly a trivial affair for me. Well when I opened up and saw the letter from the Fresno Courthouse Jury Service, I was saddened. Like all other normal people I decided that I must try to find a way out of it. I researched online through the art of Google plausible excuses to squeeze out of my situation. There were many, some doable, others insanely complicated. I figured out then that it was better to confront the situation directly and get it over with. It was not worth the order of contempt I could have received.
The more I thought about it the better it seemed for me to go. I would get paid if I did get called. I would get the opportunity to miss class unabated. It would, also be a good learning experience. On the letter it said to go next week. At first I was nervous because I knew I might get bogged down in a murder trial for weeks; that was the worst case scenario. The best case was that the attorneys would dismiss me, as they could withdraw a few jurors with no cause whatsoever. After that notion I was very excited knowing I could get dismissed. It felt like Christmas.
So, the next Monday I drove myself to Fresno from the countryside. I knew it was going to be a great day. Everything was going perfect till I got to the jury formation room and it was full. You would think with all the negative comments I read on the internet about jury duty no one would be there, but boy was I wrong. It was a multicultural melting pot. There were people from all walks of life, young and old. I eventually found a seat in the...