Picked for a jury: vow of silence. Work schedule upended, normal routine overturned, in favor of a higher, at least more compelling, calling: service in the justice system of the Commonwealth. What does it mean to be one of the peers called to listen and judge; you are the supreme court of the facts, someone told us. Perhaps we'll be right; at least we will decide.
The whole business is a matrix of cross-cutting second-person interactions, lawyers and witnesses, judge and jurors, and at bottom, two contending views of reality presented to the 14 of us in the jury box.
Reflection on encounters in writing is one thing, but deeds are at the very quick of them. Our verdict will draw a line which will change things, and it will be a result of our engaging with each of the parties with an eye to determining veracity.
My once-every-three-years summons into the vortex of disputes forces me into encounters as not just head, not just heart, but hands-on affairs.
Usually we subsume open-ended time activities into our daily work routines--the project that goes longer than expected, the train that doesn't seem to want to move. Jury duty is different, however, in that it takes precedence over our normal schedules. One day or one trial is the promise but that last term is really unbounded. My time experience is being wrenched. Not on vacation, not at work, not sick--where am I?
The whole business is a matrix of cross-cutting second-person interactions, lawyers and witnesses, judge and jurors, and at bottom, two contending views of reality presented to the 14 of us in the jury box.
Reflection on encounters in writing is one thing, but deeds are at the very quick of them. Our verdict will draw a line which will change things, and it will be a result of our engaging with each of the parties with an eye to determining veracity.
My once-every-three-years summons into the vortex of disputes forces me into encounters as not just head, not just heart, but hands-on affairs.
Usually we subsume open-ended time activities into our daily work routines--the project that goes longer than expected, the train that doesn't seem to want to move. Jury duty is different, however, in that it takes precedence over our normal schedules. One day or one trial is the promise but that last term is really unbounded. My time experience is being wrenched. Not on vacation, not at work, not sick--where am I?
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