It Is What It Is

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Jury Duty was interesting. I did not get “picked”, in fact I was not even culled into a “To Be Picked” Pool at all. Thank goodness for Friday. Weather is gorgeous,too. Great day for riding the bus. lol.

So. I found the whole experience to be very interesting, monitoring my own thoughts and reactions to things. For starters, I brought along my book… Bob Thurman, Inner Revolution… so I read this Buddhism stuff basically, while sitting there all morning. And listened to their usual schpeal they give.. its a duty and a privilege to serve. Well, I happen to agree but I know I’m weird, I also find it quite interesting, the times before when I’ve sat through Voir Dire and all. In Texas, they say: “voy dyer”. Is that just here? Cuz I say “vwah deer”. And the TV… funny. The guy rambled on and told the story of the various channels they’ve tried only to “vote them off the island”, i.e. CNN, Fox, C-SPAN, and another one. They’ve settled on now the Travel Channel.

Anyway. It’s no big deal, no real inconvenience, for me to go to Jury Duty. I never try to “get out of it” as friends always seem to urge you to do. My biggest thing is my fear of being selected to serve on some big scary important case. Or even a small important case. Lot of responsibility. I mean, that could be OPOL up there. Or Meteor Blades. Or you, or you. Or me. Fortunately, I was not required to confront those fears today.

As I sat there this morning, listening to their pep talk pitch and thinking of all the citizenship things that have been floating around my head lately, and mostly hoping to NOT get picked, I landed on: It is what it is.

We tend to talk about .. all we have is our Vote and our Voice. Well, yeah. But together, our chorus of voices can affect The Vote, as we saw last November. I really wish we wouldn’t lose or relinquish that belief or spirit just because the election is over. In many ways, we lost a leader by winning that election for him, and promoting him, in effect, to his current position of having to lead all. We have to get past that loss. Win. That paradox. The doublethink.

Today, in response to the tragedy at Ft. Hood yesterday, our nation’s leader said this:

“We stand in awe of their sacrifice, and we pray for the safety of those who fight, and for the families of those who have fallen.”

Indeed. A noble and intelligent thing to say, I suppose, ya know, compared to that last guy… but … why are we sending them there to fight in the first place? Why are these families being asked to endure these sacrifices? Why do we allow the trillions of dollars to go to that war effort while thousands upon thousands of Americans lie sick and dying for want of health care here at home?

When will we hold to account those who are truly responsible for this fucking mess. Meh. See Gottlieb today.

P.S. And where is that nooner Open Thread you promised me, huh?!?! lol