One angry Joy

Magnet #486 - New York State Capitol, Albany, NY

Yes. I totally took a tour of the NY State Capitol, and it's a freakin' awesome building. It's gorgeous - inside and out.

You can see more of it in this FB slideshow, but I want to get to the reason why I picked this magnet for today - as this blogger says, Jury Duty = Civic Duty! (I linked to this fellow blogger, because I needed a little validation after the ribbing I've been taking over the course of the day. Hehehe.)

Flashback: Back in junior high and high school, in our civics classes and as part of the Sheriff's Blue Ribbon Committee (wherein they take not at-risk, honors kids and show them the ins and outs of the judicial system), we got to do one or two mock trials, and got to visit the courtrooms of Salisbury, NC, and learn, well, the ins and outs of the judicial system.

To my parents everlasting disappointment, I didn't become a lawyer.

But, these classes and tours instilled a great need to do my civic duty. Jury duty.

I've been in NY since 1995, and in that time, I've been called exactly three times.

The first time, I was totally excited. I served two of the three days, and they picked me to sit in the oh-so-cool jurors box. The attorney/prosecutor (whomever he was, he was supercute) asked us questions, and they didn't select me. I think it was the "Pick me! Pick me!" gleam in my eyes.

The second time, I was excited again. I served a couple of the days again, and they again picked me to sit in the oh-so-cool jurors box. The attorney/prosecutor (whomever she was, she was kinda scary) asked us questions, and they didn't select me. I even tried to play it cool, answering questions as honestly as possible, and trying to keep the "Pick me! Pick me!" gleam from my eyes.

Present day: So, today...today! I get there, and I'm all excited, because man, it was GRAND JURY for the SUPREME COURT OF NEW YORK!!! So I get there, and we go through the rules and procedure, and how if we got selected to serve, that we'd have to report from 2-5pm every day from June 22 through July 17. I know there was a "Pick me! Pick me!" gleam in my eye - but it didn't matter, because they picked names out of a little draft barrel! Gah! I didn't get picked! Four jury pools were selected, and I still didn't get picked!

Sigh. I'm so very, very, very disappointed.

But, I'm kinda disappointed in Americans today...or, at least some of the folks in the (kinda cool but dingy Art Deco) courtroom today...everyone has an excuse to get out of jury duty. C'mon, people.

Here's what I don't understand...it's our freakin' civic duty. The Constitution, people! It guarantees that whomever's been accused of a crime, has the right to a trial by an impartial jury of their peers.

Dudes! Why are ya'll trying to get out of it? People fought and died so that we'd be able to do this. Dudes! There are people out there still fighting and dying out there to be able to have some sort of semblance of same!

Okay, okay, fine - some of my ire is really just sourgrape-ing about not getting picked. But, still. I just don't get it. Oh, well. There's always next time.

In SIX YEARS!

Hmph.