Better Living Through Introspection

So I’m talking with some lawyer in the courthouse cafeteria and he says most people dread coming to jury duty, how you finding it and I say you know, that’s exactly how I felt until I got here and got this tiny little peek into the whole process from a point of view I’ve never had before and I gotta tell ya I’m diggin’ it and he’s like right on, right on and when I finish my blackened chicken and get up to go he says do the right thing, man, do the right thing and I’m like always, always.

The other jurors were an interesting lot, probably more interesting than the case itself, which was civil and — I believe — frivolous. Normally, I’m the type of guy happy to hang out in the background noise, letting everyone do their thing, except when there’s a job that needs to be done so when we were instructed to repair to the jury room to begin our deliberations I stepped down from my chair and was the first outta the courtroom behind the clerk so that when we filed into our private ten-by-ten I would be the first one at the table. I remained standing as everyone took the same seats they’d been sitting in for the last three days, and after the clerk handed us our instructions and closed the door, I let everyone know I’d be the foreman, barring any complaints.

Let me tell you something. People — at least in this country — people are happy when they don’t have to lead. As much we prize leadership, we rarely find it to be a strong quality in the people we know. So when someone stands up and says let me handle this, follow me, we gladly let them. I think I surprised even myself, knowing the instant we were dismissed how I’d take control.

Now, don’t worry, I’m not getting full of myself. On a scale of importance from 1 to 10, with 1 being ineffectual and 10 being life-altering, I realize this little matter is so trivial as to hardly be rated oh-point.whatever…I’ve had higher BAC’s, but that’s not the point.

The point is every now and then you find something in yourself that you weren’t sure was there anymore, or even there in the first place. But maybe I’m getting ahead of myself…