Jury Duty and Connectivity

Do you cringe when you receive a jury summons in your mailbox?  At first glance, jury duty is a burden, both inconvenient and costly.  Not only do you have to rearrange your schedule, but it is usually not a very efficient process once you arrive.  It is easy to get frustrated with our forced role in this bureaucratic system.

Yet, despite the periodic inconveniences inherent in our system, I am proud to be a part of it. In fact, as I sit here in a jury room waiting to be called to serve on a trial, I am struck by how this civic duty provides an opportunity for us to connect with many aspects of our community that we take for granted.  Just think of the many ways a community's vibrancy depends on civic engagement and how many people contribute on a regular basis.  We are connected to others in our community through a web of relationships that determine the quality of our lives, our ability to exercise our rights, and even our safety.  Embracing and contributing to the connectivity in our community will help strengthen, encourage, and improve it and, similar to improving connectivity in our workplace, we all benefit when our community hums.

Millions of people around the world dream of living in a society governed by the Rule of Law. Jury duty has been a valuable reminder of how I am grateful to be a part of a system where my interdependence with my neighbors gives me the opportunity to partake in its ongoing success.