Be Careful The Company You Keep

I had jury duty this week and was selected for a trial. I can talk about it now because the case is over but I will still be vague as to the complete nature of the crime. However, I feel the need to share this valuable lesson I learned while working on this case.

The Defendant in this case was what you would consider an accessory to the crime - although they used other terms in the actual proceedings. The person who committed the actual crime was a friend of the Defendant and they hung out together a lot. I don't doubt that the Defendant in our case probably knew that the other man was of questionable character but they remained friends none the less.

We the Jury listened to all the evidence in the case and there was a lot, but it dealt almost entirely with the main person who committed the crime. In fact there was not one piece of evidence presented to us that proved that the Defendant knew anything about the crime before it happened. It appeared to us that he had the misfortune of being asked to drive a car to the scene to pick up the other person who actually was committing the crime. Having no evidence presented that he knew of the crime before hand, we found the Defendant innocent of the charges.

Here is the kicker: We found out after the case was closed that the Defendant in our case had spent the last three years of his life in jail. He was arrested at the scene and it took 3 years for his case to come to trial. Three years!! That is very upsetting to me and I'm sure even more upsetting to him. But it did send a wake-up call to me, and hopefully anyone who might read this.

Be mindful of the people you associate with. If you feel a person is of questionable character, listen to that voice in your head and always think twice before you offer to help them.

If you can't say anything nice.....

Oh my, it's been almost a month since my last post where I promised to try to be more positive in my Blog. Either I don't have anything good to say or I have just been very busy. Truth be told it's a little of both. But let's give this positive attitude thing a try.

I've noticed that since gas prices have gone out of control that my commute to work is much smoother! It seems there is not as much traffic since people can't afford the gas. And perhaps the carpool idea just might be gaining some new respect which is great news for the environment.

Some more good news, the Presidents poll numbers continue to plummet which means that people are finally starting to realize, after only 5 years or so, that our nation is not headed in the right direction.

And here is some good news in nature: Every year in April my huge mahogany tree drops all it's leaves and grows a new set within a week. This process is usually a huge mess for the whole block. However, since Hurricane Wilma took a big chunck out of the tree - the leaf drop was very manageable this year. And only half as many leaves ended up in the pool!

Well, nobody can say I didn't try. But I'm pretty sure that sarcasm does not equal a positive attitude. I'll keep trying.