Monday, October 13, 2008

Jury Duty, Part 2

Today I woke up at 6 am so I could get ready for jury duty. I got Lacy up at 6:30 and she and I ate breakfast together. She said, "Where are we going while it's night time?"

"It's not night time-- it's morning."

"But it's dark outside. It's night."

"It can be dark in the morning. It will start to get light in a little while."

She really didn't believe me that it was morning! While I did appreciate the early rise and ability to get things done in the morning, I don't miss the morning commute and getting two kids ready and dropped off. I can't believe I did this every day for 3 years!

I woke up Rose at a quarter to 7 and we set off for my sister's house. I dropped the kids off and left a crying and tired Rose and went to the county courthouse to report to jury duty.

After getting through traffic and waiting in a long line to go through a medal detector at the courthouse, I reported and got my number badge. I was juror number 9. Great. That means, unless they don't like me, I was going to serve on a jury. I wasn't sure I was going to be able to commit to so much time away from my girls!

I found out it was a civil case for injuries sustained during a car accident. One of the witnesses was a chiropractor. This is a chiropractor that I know, as he has filled in for my regular chiropractor in the past. They asked many questions of us, including how we felt about chiropractors. I wear my heart on my sleeve, so I think it was obvious to the lawyers and judge that I was upset at how some people talked about chirpractors being lesser than other doctors, and that they're money-grubbing quacks. After Dave sustained injuries to his back from a work accident 7 years ago, he could not walk. We had a friend carry him to his SUV (couldn't get in to our car) and drove him to our chiropractor's office at 11 at night. The doctor and our friend carried Dave in to the office. The doctor adjusted him, and Dave was able to walk out on his own. A combination of chiropractic, masssage and physical therapy brought Dave back to 100% capacity. So I absolutely believe in chiropractic as being an important treatment option that should be readily available to injured people. And pregnant people. And people that want to see one just because. I'm sure my face showed that I was disgusted with the responses of people who thought that way. Consequently I was not chosen to be a juror on this case. I still have to call in every night this week after 5:3o to see if my group is called back in. It is unlikely, but possible. I will not be reporting tomorrow. I'm glad that the experience is over, and I'm glad that I could see our legal system in action. I am also glad that they picked a different juror-- I'm not sure how unbiased I could be in a case such as this. They made the right choice to not select me.

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