Judge’s remarks were offensive
Recently, I was selected for jury duty in Las Vegas and had an experience that upset me to the point where I felt it necessary to write in. After 35 perspective jurors, including myself, were selected for a civil case and sent to the courtroom, the proceedings opened with the judge (who shall remain nameless) explaining that while jury duty is often seen as a hassle, it is in fact our job as good U.S. citizens to participate. He then went on to explain what a good citizen was, as folllows:
He told how recently he attended one of his children’s athletic events at a local high school. He said that when the ROTC got ready with the American flag before the start of the event, he immediately stood up and crossed his heart. He said others didn’t stand until the flag was front and center and the anthem had started, and many didn’t remove their hats. He closed this story with this exact quote: “I couldn’t believe how many bad citizens there were in the stands.”
That offends me on many levels. To me, being a good citizen means helping your fellow man, holding the door open for those who need help, stopping to assist someone on the side of the road, performing CPR on an injured person, and speaking out against bigotry, racism, homophobia and any other form of exclusion based on a false belief of superiority.
Also being a good citizen means, to me, expressing one’s feelings and reactions to what makes us both proud and disappointed in regard to being an American.
The American flag is a symbol, and as such, has as much power as each person gives it, much like the spoken word. How I view the flag, and the anthem, is entirely up to me and each person out there to determine on their own, as opposed to a judge dictating to us how to honor it.
I am proud to be an American and have the rights and liberties that millions have fought and died for, including close friends and relatives. But part of being an American is the right to protest as long as the protest does not harm another or put them at risk.
I often stumble at being a good citizen, and a good person. I try to do right, and when I don’t I try to make up for it. But it is my right and choice to determine what being a good citizen means to me and how I show it, and not have that determination made by a judge or any other politician. That’s the true beauty of being an American citizen — the right to think and believe what we want, and act accordingly.
Adam Palmer, Las Vegas