The Judicial System

First off, I would like to state for the record, that cloves are not an effective remedy for ants. I am moving on to bay leaves and will report back my findings later this week.

Secondly, I did have to go to Jury Duty. The newly constructed Stamford Superior Court is beautiful. One enters into the building via an atrium of marble, which has carved into it thoughts about justice. As this is where one must queue up and wait to be searched, there is time to read the writings on the wall and, actually, the experience is inspiring. At 8:30 a.m. instead of calculating how to get out of the obligation or cursing the fates that put me there to begin with, I found myself feeling honored to have the opportunity to participate in a system which holds individuals rights so dear. I was not feeling as inspired at 12:50, when I and another woman were the only 2 jurors left in the jury room. The attorney for the plaintiff came out and told us that they were supposed to break at 1:00 and then talk to a judge. That is when I threw my head back and moaned, "This is the first day of my vacation." After concluding that the other woman and I really wanted to get on with it, the attorneys agreed to work thru lunch. I was the last person to voir dire and apparently I eliminated myself quite quickly. I was told the nature of the case had to do with a man riding a bicycle who was chased by a dog, fell off the bike and hurt himself and was now suing the dog's owner. How Greenwich. That is when I rolled my eyes. It did not go unnoticed. There were questions, such as "Do you realize that the State of Connecticut has a law that a dog's owner is responsible for any damage the dog creates?" and "Do you think you would use the law to consider the facts, even if you did not agree with the law?" He was really getting to the heart of the matter. I replied "I would hope I would. I would try to the best of my ability. But my son did say that he would never want me on a jury because I have my own crazy thoughts." I was then asked to set outside the room and momentarily the attorneys came out and advised me that I was excused. They informed me that it was the roll of the eyes that had done it for them, but one joked that his mother had just been on a jury and he could not believe she was not excused. I guess that's the way it is.

On a more somber note, I am very sad to hear of the passing of Farrah Fawcett. She was a very courageous, beautiful woman who raised some very good questions about the accessibility to health care treatment options for cancer patients. I particularly love this photo of her and I recently brought a copy to my hairdresser with a request for a similar cut. And may angels carry thee to thy rest.

Ciao for now.