I returned home from a business trip to find that I had been summoned to appear as a potential juror in district court. I immediately examined the exemptions on the back of the card and found I qualified for none. It clearly stated that business hardship was not a good enough excuse to be excused. I took umbrage and began to plot my strategy to get out of the obligation.
As I drove up to the courthouse, I rehearsed my speech, ready to remind the judge that the business of America is business. As a communications coach and a self-employed, sole proprietor, when I am not coaching, there is no income coming in. This was a serious imposition and surely there were those who could better afford to give their time than I could.
My card said I was juror #317. As I filed into the huge old courtroom, it became obvious that the vast majority of more than 400 of us who appeared that morning were easily as imposed upon as I was. From the snatches of conversation I overheard, nearly everyone had to make significant sacrifices in juggling their lives, including getting others to cover their work, in scrambling to find childcare, moving projects and clients around, forfeiting pay and other compensation so they could show up that morning.
The judge called us to order, led the Pledge of Allegiance, and swore us in. And then, with great warmth and sincerity, the judge thanked us for showing up and acknowledged the shared sacrifices that each of us were making. He talked eloquently about our constitutional right to a trial by a jury of our peers and of the unique place that the judicial branch held in our system of government.
I suddenly had a moment of clarity. I experienced on a visceral level that I was a citizen of the most successful experiment in democracy the world has ever known. For all its flaws, for all its excesses, for all its mistakes, we were still the standard that virtually everyone uses of a free country. That matters.
My personal problems, the excuses I had so carefully prepared, evaporated in my mind. I experienced for that moment what being a citizen of this country meant. I would do my part and give of my time and effort, irrespective of the inconvenience or financial burden. I had a complete change in my attitude which led to my having a totally different experience.
The case I was selected for certainly didn't make constitutional history or set judicial precedent. It was a property dispute within a family after the patriarch died without a will. What was important was the principle. We, the jurors, suited up and showed up so our system of justice could work. That benefited all.
In this election season, we, the voters, have demonstrated in primary after primary that we matter. The huge uptick in voting is deeply heartening. We are, after all, a government of the people, by the people and for the people. I encourage you to get involved on some level. I did it, albeit reluctantly, by serving on a jury. It opened my eyes and my heart to other ways that I can show up and be heard. May your participation, in small ways or large, do the same for you.
Dennis Tardan is a communications consultant and empowerment trainer. His passion is helping people to communicate their core messages with greater clarity, effectiveness and confidence. His company is Tardan Professional Development and he is based in Texas, USA. www.tardanprodev.com. Write to Dennis at .
