Answering the Call of Duty

Jury duty that is. I got a summons in the mail on Saturday to go to jury duty at the end of March and immediately started grumbling and trying to figure out how to get out of it. I've always had a fear of doing jury duty and getting stuck on the murder trial that will take months to do and years of therapy to get over, but according to their website, that's not what Municipal court handles, so I was less fearful of it.

Then this morning I was looking at the news headlines of what's going on in Libya and the Middle East right now. People are continuing to be slaughtered in their quest for the freedoms we take for granted. And I realized that something as simple yet possibly annoying as jury duty is in fact a freedom. It's what we do so that we can have a fair justice system, it's being a part of the system. It's what I do so that hopefully one day, should the need ever arise for me to have a jury, there will be a group of my peers who actually pay attention and do their job properly to grant me justice.

So I decided that I will attend my jury duty without a grudge or a feeling of being put-upon. I will embrace the experience in honor of those who are fighting and dying for the chance to do what I am being given the opportunity to do.

The Fight for Freedom

I've been watching and reading about what's going on in the Middle East right this very minute. It is exciting, and sad. People are dying in the fight for freedom. It's real. It's real people fighting for rights against leaders who don't want to give up their power and want to keep them oppressed.

I look at these people in awe, and wonder what I would do if faced with the same situation. I have never had to really fight for anything in my life. Things are just given to us here in this country. And when we do fight for things, it's done within the system, and rarely does it result in people being set on fire or trampled by camels or shot at from helicopters. We really do have it easy here, no matter how much we like to play the martyr.

The people fighting this fight are true heroes. They are willing to fight for freedom, and are literally willing to die for it. Some people might say it's brave to take up arms to fight for what you want for your country, but I think it's far braver to face a gun with open arms, and take a bullet for your people. It is something I don't think I could ever do, even if I was fighting for something as important as the freedoms we take for granted here.

So I would like to thank a couple different groups of people tonight. First I would like to thank the men and women who serve our nation so that I can remain the coward that I am and not have to do it myself. I would also like to thank them for keeping our freedoms safe so that I can write these words freely and not fear being arrested for them. And second, I would like to thank the brave men and women around the world who are currently fighting and dying for their freedom and the future of their nations. You are far braver than I am, and you will not be forgotten. And I hope and pray with all of my heart, that it will not be in vain. Spring is coming! May it bring better days and a freer future for all...