{"id":17638,"date":"2026-03-10T14:39:06","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T14:39:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/uncategorized\/the-joys-of-jury-duty\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T06:04:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T06:04:08","slug":"the-joys-of-jury-duty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/inspiring-stories\/the-joys-of-jury-duty\/","title":{"rendered":"The Joys of Jury Duty"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jury duty.<\/p>\n

The words strike dread in the bravest heart, right along with root canal and tax audit. Some people simply ignore the summons and risk facing the consequences (which include\u2026what? Have you ever known anyone arrested for not appearing? Really?). Most of us show up hoping and even trying not to get picked. We hope and pray and have faith that we won\u2019t be assigned to a trial. That would mean days down here.<\/p>\n

By now you\u2019ve correctly surmised that I am at jury duty, called to civil court in downtown Manhattan, where I sit and sit\u2026and sit. No inspirational or uplifting stories here. Just people complaining about how much work they have to do and how mad their bosses are at them. Some just hate the whole idea of serving even if they have nothing else going on. Now there\u2019s a positive attitude. I mean, this wouldn\u2019t be so bad if I wasn\u2019t so busy. <\/p>\n

Okay, so it\u2019s really not as awful as all that. First we got to watch a nice informative video with Ed Bradley and Diane Sawyer<\/a> (a three-time Guideposts<\/em> cover, I might add) that actually is a pretty inspiring video, with interesting and even uplifting stories about the history of the jury system (I particularly liked the scenes where the archaic punishment of dunking was reenacted). Moreover the clerks and court officials are exceedingly diffident since they know how much people hate coming here\u2026a positive attitude I appreciate.<\/p>\n

Last time I was called I remember feeling dissed because I WASN\u2019T put on a jury. Why bother going through all this for nothing? In fact working for an inspirational magazine like Guideposts<\/em> can apparently get you disqualified. My colleague and positive thinking blogger Amy Wong<\/a> says she was once rejected from a jury when the lawyer defending a large corporation learned who her employer was. \u201cOh, you work for that magazine that publishes all those real life David and Goliath stories, all those inspiring articles about people beating the odds and achieving their dreams. I don\u2019t want you on my jury!\u201d<\/p>\n

Apparently that is not going to happen for me today because it looks like I\u2019ve been\u2014gulp<\/em>\u2014chosen, and I am sworn not to say anything about the case so I won\u2019t. I have no reason now to complain about being rejected. Well, maybe the parties will come to their senses and settle before this goes any further.<\/p>\n

The fact is, though, once I\u2019m down here\u2014and it\u2019s only every seven years in New York\u2014I become fascinated with the workings of the justice system, especially the human workings. What is more basic to human society than our search for justice? It is an amazing albeit confusing and imperfect system, and when I stop and force myself to think about it, contributing to the process can be a very inspiring experience. Because the system is made up of people, with all their strengths and frailties, trying to do the right thing. If ever you want to experience real life and real life stories, come to the courthouse.<\/p>\n

Last time when I complained about not being picked for a jury, I said to a lawyer friend, \u201cWhat\u2019s the point?\u201d He told me the point was that I showed up, and that alone helped make the system work, even if I didn\u2019t get put on a jury. \u201cJust show up when called,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s either that or go back to dunking.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jury duty. The words strike dread in the bravest heart, right along with root canal and tax audit. Some people simply ignore the summons and risk facing the consequences (which include\u2026what? Have you ever known anyone arrested for not appearing? Really?). Most of us show up hoping and even trying not to get picked. We […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[135],"tags":[55,51],"ppma_author":[481],"class_list":["post-17638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-inspiring-stories","tag-inspiration","tag-inspirational-stories"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Joys of Jury Duty - Guideposts Articles<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Joys of Jury Duty\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Jury duty. The words strike dread in the bravest heart, right along with root canal and tax audit. 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