Rush to Judgment

Tad has jury duty. Time to perform some civil disservice. I've gotta call in at noon, to see if I have to haul ass, if such a thing is possible on my beloved 405, for 20 miles to arrive at 1:00 PM and do some waiting. Don't like the inability to plan my day though. That's OK, I had the foresight to go to Amazon.com a couple of weeks ago to make sure I'm covered in the interesting reading department.

I kinda hope I get called in. But not for long, though. I've got a sit-on-my-ass vacation coming next week. For the record, it's supposed to be a paint-the-living-room-and-hall vacation, your honor.

I've never made it into an actual courtroom before, at least as a juror. (Don't ask. It wasn't about me, I just don't want to talk about it.) I'm Looking forward to imposing my views on how litigious our society is by not letting some whiner get away with a reward for any kind of "emotional distress".

When will people realize that emotions are things that they own, and they are possible to control, if not at least manage. When someone does you wrong - which is a personal judgment to begin with - and it causes you "emotional distress", you are admitting that you are not strong enough to take responsibility for how you feel about yourself, and, on top of that, that you should be rewarded monetarily for your own shortcoming.

I suppose it's because I've always believed in taking responsibility for my own problems, and I expect others to do the same. Look, don't stand on the top step of the ladder. I don't care whether it's labeled or not. And don't put the cup of coffee between your legs as you drive. Of course it's hot, moron.

Besides, the Government already provides a much easier way to get your hands on scads of money that you didn't earn. It's called the lottery. And if you think that it costs too much to buy enough tickets to improve your odds of winning, just wait until you get that bill for the retainer fee. And then you might not even win your case. Which just might give you another case of emotional distress.