Judging the judgers

Casey Anthony was acquitted yesterday. By a jury, that is. But not by the masses. Nope. By them, she was judged, convicted AND sentenced to burn in hell. She is not the only one judged by the populous. The jury has also been deemed to be incompetent or corrupted - or something. Of course, some people also blame the prosecution for not doing their job. And what of the media who has chosen to give this trial so much air time? It seems that there is much blame to be thrown around.

I quickly admit that I haven't been following the details of the trial and that I certainly don't know enough about it to judge her or anyone else. However, I HAVE been in a courtroom enough times to know that the view from inside is vastly different than the one outside. I have sat on the jury enough times to know how tough it can be to remain objective. How agonizing to feel one way in your gut, but to not have confirmation by the evidence. To stay true to the law when it comes to reasonable doubt. What a heavy robe is worn by a juror!

I am also well aware that the jury has not heard the same things that we have heard. At least we can only hope that they have not heard all of the media hype. There's a reason why juries are sequestered; otherwise none of us could ever hope for a fair trial.

I found myself reacting to the reactions - to the instant anger, the sadness, the condemnation that was flying across the pages of the internet. How quickly we judge - with the confidence that our opinion, our information, our point-of-view is the correct one. That of course I know what I'm talking about and of course those people who decided differently are stupid or evil or inferior in some way.

In my desire to jump in and react to the reactions and the reactors, part of me wanted to say "Chill out a bit; is it possible that you don't have every detail at your disposal?" But another part was reacting angrily to the anger. I felt my own blood pressure rise a bit.

It was not until after I had distracted myself from the subject and was not so obsessed with it, that I realized that I was angry with the anger of the people who were judging the jury and in so doing I was judging THEM. Yep, I was judging the judgers.

Weird. But that's the way it works, isn't it? My idea is the right one, of course. My information is more correct than anyone else's; therefore my viewpoint is the wisest and best informed. Oh, yah, by the way, I'm not just talking about a court case anymore. I'm talking about life. I/we do it all the time. Why must I always be so quick to try to find a place to pin the blame? I've asked myself that question so many times. Am I not getting any better? Maybe I get better and then have relapses.

Is there an antidote? The only one I think of is to remember what it feels like to be falsely accused and wrongly judged. I know all too well what that feels like, too. So... can I give others the benefit of the doubt that I would like extended to me if I were the one in that chair - the defendant chair or a seat on the jury? Can I be grace-filled and compassionate to my friend who flies off the handle in judging someone else? Hmmm...