Pink Ears and the Seductions of Deference in Everyday Ramblings

As we walked by this somewhat dilapidated piece of public art Mrs. Sherlock exclaimed, “You should know what this it!” I wasn’t sure what exactly she was referring to so she blurted out, “it’s a lotus!”

Umm. Okay. I am not exactly sure what a stylized lotus is doing on top of a pole in a suburban neighborhood on the grounds of a Catholic college but… a lotus…cool. It is kind of pretty.

I just finished up my stint at jury duty late this morning. I was called for jury selection on the first criminal jury of the day yesterday and then ended up on that jury so the experience was much less full of the vague required waiting periods I have experienced before.

What was interesting is that I liked everybody on the jury. There were seven of us, six plus an alternate who wasn’t named until after the case rested and we were ready to deliberate.

We all had trouble sleeping last night because the testimony by the witnesses didn’t correspond and as one of us said this morning, there was a pretty good possibility that everybody involved was lying.

As the main prosecution witness was testifying his ears started getting red, it was quite a tell and I wasn’t the only person that noticed it.

What a relief though when we started deliberations that we all agreed!

First pass.

None of the parties involved were likable except a career police officer that looked like he needed some sleep and some remedial yoga and a sheriff who looked like his back was killing him. We all talked about how the whole courtroom environment was not healthy for anyone, the lighting, the chairs, and the long stressful waits.

The defendant wore jeans with holes in them and a colored shirt with a tie. The attorneys both needed to shine their shoes. The defendant was a truly dislikable person, which is how the whole thing probably escalated as it did. And he clearly had money. That defense was not cheap. We had 911 calls and recordings of other calls and employment handbooks with tabs and all sorts of incident reports and…

The judge was nice. A few of the women on the jury with me were saying at the end as we were filing into the courtroom for the last time to give our verdict (past the adorable 8 year old school kids in to witness the trial) and everyone stood up for us that our inner princesses really liked that standing up for us thing.

One can see how that kind of deference would get pretty heady.

I am grateful that I have the right and the responsibility to vote and to serve on a jury even if this trial seemed like an absurd waste of taxpayer money.

And I am grateful it is over!

Now I can make plans and appointments and get my work done and well basically live my life…

Staying calm and carrying on. Even if I am unable to identify a random lotus on demand.

Last updated October 05, 2017