JURY DUTY
Philip Yancy in his book "The Jesus I Never Knew" (which I highly recommend by the way) said, "Ironically, our respect in the world declines in proportion to how vigorously we attempt to force others to adopt our point of view".
Well, yesterday after two days of being in the courtroom, we spent over 4 hours deliberating. We were a hung jury, each with our opinions of the truth, and could not come to a decision concerning the percentage of negligence of both parties, in this civil accident suit. Then I believe the Lord gave wisdom. We took the average of all our different percentages, and came up with a percentage that represented the panel of jurors. Then we took a vote again, and still did not get the ten majority needed in a civil suit.
All along we had all given our opinions and filled out our forms individually, but had to come up with one form that represented the majority (10) votes, which the Foreman would read when asked for the verdict of the jury. We still did not have a vote to go with the average, each person holding out for their beliefs.
I really tried to respect others opinions, not trying to force them to adopt my point of view, and yet being bold to state the facts as I heard them, as well as the law - which is all we are responsible for in making a judgement and coming to a conclusion. At times it got very heated as you can imagine, and we could not come to a conclusion.
Then I felt the Lord spoke to me to speak to the jurors. I told them I was willing to vote for the average percentage even though I was probably the one furthest from the average, not believing the plaintiff to be at fault at all (100/0%), because we were on a panel and this was the figure that actually represented the entire group, and would they reconsider their votes.
We took a vote again and it was 11 to 1. We had a verdict.
I praise God, that He reminded me of P. Yancey's quote before the deliberations, and is dealing with me about this very thing in my life. I believe I considered others' opinions and why they believed what they did, and was open to change. I hope no one felt that I tried to force them to adopt my beliefs throughout the process, and hopefully earned a measure of respect, that I was able because of it to help bring the deliberations to a satisfactory conclusion. I thank God for His wisdom and believe that even though I did not agree with the verdict, that I did make a difference. I believe in our court system and have seen it work firsthand. Justice may not always be served "for all" at all times, but God's justice will be served ultimately, and now I can rest in that.
I am grateful for this opportunity to have served my country in this small way, and learned so much in the process. It was a good experience even though I came home with a headache, and had to give the Lord the frustration I felt. I am very grateful to be living in America.
Well, yesterday after two days of being in the courtroom, we spent over 4 hours deliberating. We were a hung jury, each with our opinions of the truth, and could not come to a decision concerning the percentage of negligence of both parties, in this civil accident suit. Then I believe the Lord gave wisdom. We took the average of all our different percentages, and came up with a percentage that represented the panel of jurors. Then we took a vote again, and still did not get the ten majority needed in a civil suit.
All along we had all given our opinions and filled out our forms individually, but had to come up with one form that represented the majority (10) votes, which the Foreman would read when asked for the verdict of the jury. We still did not have a vote to go with the average, each person holding out for their beliefs.
I really tried to respect others opinions, not trying to force them to adopt my point of view, and yet being bold to state the facts as I heard them, as well as the law - which is all we are responsible for in making a judgement and coming to a conclusion. At times it got very heated as you can imagine, and we could not come to a conclusion.
Then I felt the Lord spoke to me to speak to the jurors. I told them I was willing to vote for the average percentage even though I was probably the one furthest from the average, not believing the plaintiff to be at fault at all (100/0%), because we were on a panel and this was the figure that actually represented the entire group, and would they reconsider their votes.
We took a vote again and it was 11 to 1. We had a verdict.
I praise God, that He reminded me of P. Yancey's quote before the deliberations, and is dealing with me about this very thing in my life. I believe I considered others' opinions and why they believed what they did, and was open to change. I hope no one felt that I tried to force them to adopt my beliefs throughout the process, and hopefully earned a measure of respect, that I was able because of it to help bring the deliberations to a satisfactory conclusion. I thank God for His wisdom and believe that even though I did not agree with the verdict, that I did make a difference. I believe in our court system and have seen it work firsthand. Justice may not always be served "for all" at all times, but God's justice will be served ultimately, and now I can rest in that.
I am grateful for this opportunity to have served my country in this small way, and learned so much in the process. It was a good experience even though I came home with a headache, and had to give the Lord the frustration I felt. I am very grateful to be living in America.
1 Comments:
that's a great story Mom. I'm proud of you! Wish I could have been a fly on the wall and watched it all go down.
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