Derek on jury duty pt1: "Constitutional Right"

Honestly, this may offend you. And if it does, I'm terribly sorry and I apologize for the offense but....

I don't give a crap about being American, I don't care about the constitution nor the bill of rights.  I don't ever fly the flag, I can't sing the anthem, I don't know the pledge of allegiance. I don't know what the score of the miracle on ice was, I don't know who and what started the civil war, I haven't ever voted for a president, and I haven't ever paid taxes (because I've not made enough, not because I'm avoiding it)

Sooooo, when I arrived at courthouse and a judge gave the introduction to the 'trial by jury' concept, he used terms I just did not use on a normal basis. It was the term "constitutional right".  We fought for this in the civil war and our founding fathers saw that it was so vital to American future that they included it in the declaration of independence.

I sat there puking into my own mouth.

Then the judge wrapped up and asked for questions. A lady stood up and said,"thank you for allowing us to uphold the declaration of independence and to exercise our constitutional right of a trial by jury."

Are you kidding me? I almost heard a drum line and trumpet blasting in the background. Did she even have a question? No! She should ended her "question" with "America the Beautiful".

I was recovering from my sickness and I looked around while this women was celebrating the stars and stripes, and a whole lot of other people around us were nodding, smiling and when she started to choke up with tears, people were right there crying with her.

In the famous words of Mugatu in the final moments of Zoolander, he exclaimed, "Am I the only one not taking crazy pills?!?!"

I have recently studied a snippet of American history, and while I haven't looked at it in great depth I have a foundational understanding of the gravity of the founding of America. But nationalism is something that I fundamentally frown upon? Why? Because all people do is want rape, pillage and exploit those who are not of the same nation.

I guess the other issue is that as someone who has lived over half his life outside of America, I understand that people outside of America... Really dont like Americans.

Yep, it's true. Americans who are patriots and act on their manifest destiny of spreading the teachings of America, are really disliked. Even disdained...

So what's this post about? It's about how far removed I am from the ideals of this country. But I was honestly surprised at how much rhetoric was thrown around during the briefing. I didn't buy it, but I also understand that other countries don't have trails by jury and it's not fair.

Sigh, maybe I'm just a grumpy old man who just find ways to complain about everything.

So this was my introduction to my experience as a juror. I actually loved it, but it was safe to say that it didn't start off well....

Till part 2.

Comments

munfung said…
So as an American, I feel the need to say something in response to this post, but I will wait until you finish your reflection. Until Part 2...

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