Putting a Man on the Moon

 I am writing this while sitting in the Jurors Waiting Room of Birmingham Crown Court, where I have been called for 2 weeks’ jury service. As you know, there are strict laws curtailing what I can say about events in the courtroom, but nothing prevents me sharing some thoughts about the experience itself.

Tea Drinking

If you’ve ever been called to jury service, you’ll know that there can be a great deal of sitting around and tea drinking. Some of it is while you are in the “holding pen” waiting to be called to serve on a trial. A deal of it is during actual trials – every time there is a legal point to be discussed, the jury are ushered out of the courtroom and have to wait while the wrangling takes place. Sometimes for hours.

Man on the Moon

It would be very easy to see the whole thing as a colossal nuisance, a huge timewasting inconvenience, a great intrusion into my life. All of which it is. But, take a step back, look at the bigger picture, and it quickly takes on a very different aspect. Like the legendary story of the NASA janitor who was famously not just mopping the floor, but “putting a man on the moon”, I realise that I’m not just lounging in a waiting room reading my Kindle – I’m actively participating in a system that ensures each of us, if accused, has the chance to be tried not by a judge with an political agenda, not by secret police in secret courts, but in public by twelve ordinary people just like me. That huge privilege is well worth 2 weeks of my life to preserve, by any account, and I’m proud to play my part.

Important and Fun

Which leads to a related line of questioning, m’lud (sorry, habit now!). What are the other things we have to do, in work and in life, that we resent doing, that feel like a drain on our time, that seem only to have been sent to keep us from the important and fun stuff?   I’m sure you could list yours – I know I can mine. But then take that same mental step back, and look again. It doesn’t take long to find a new perspective showing that many of these are the very things that enable the “important and fun stuff” to actually happen. 

Secret Pleasures

Those boring chores, whatever form they take for you, are inevitably a crucial part of putting your particular man on his unique moon. Undertake them with pride and mindfulness, they might almost become a secret pleasure.