A Mockery Trial
So today was my last Monday as a Bankruptcy Paralegal. Lucky me, I made a commitment to be a juror at a mock trial somewhere in Jersey after work, completely forgetting that I bought a ticket to see some indie flick with my sister about South Asians in Britain. The mock trial was a really boring personal liability case. The training attorneys had no charisma nor any organizational skills. It was actually quite funny to watch at times.
The problem is that when we were deliberating, I was the one who looked like a cheapskate. I thought a $50,000 settlement would be more than enough. Some jokers wanted to award $500,000. Ugh... just because some old lady falls down a stair (not a flight of stairs, she missed one step and slipped), some idiot wants to give her a half million? It looks like the farce our justice system has become has even penetrated the mock levels.
So other than that, my dad drove me to Brooklyn this morning from home in Long Island. On the way, he had to stop at the hospital and see one patient, so I went with him. While he was inside seeing the patient, I had a conversation with the lady custodian cleaning up the hallway. She was an Indian woman no taller than 4'5. She said she came from Kerala. I could barely understand what she was saying, but all I know is that it was about how she's working so her teenage children can one day go to college, and some story about how her son is good with electronics and fixed up a DVD player that someone had thrown out. She was living the American dream. The interesting part is that after that, she topped off the conversation by telling me that the war in Iraq is completely pointless, and that she really loved Bill Clinton despite his philandering. She topped even that by saying, "Men are better leaders than women." That really came out of nowhere, but it was interesting nonetheless. Two cultures colliding together to form the American dream, plus a really funny, but ironically honest and valid, political opinion. She realized something simple but important... Bush is trying to kill the American dream.
The problem is that when we were deliberating, I was the one who looked like a cheapskate. I thought a $50,000 settlement would be more than enough. Some jokers wanted to award $500,000. Ugh... just because some old lady falls down a stair (not a flight of stairs, she missed one step and slipped), some idiot wants to give her a half million? It looks like the farce our justice system has become has even penetrated the mock levels.
So other than that, my dad drove me to Brooklyn this morning from home in Long Island. On the way, he had to stop at the hospital and see one patient, so I went with him. While he was inside seeing the patient, I had a conversation with the lady custodian cleaning up the hallway. She was an Indian woman no taller than 4'5. She said she came from Kerala. I could barely understand what she was saying, but all I know is that it was about how she's working so her teenage children can one day go to college, and some story about how her son is good with electronics and fixed up a DVD player that someone had thrown out. She was living the American dream. The interesting part is that after that, she topped off the conversation by telling me that the war in Iraq is completely pointless, and that she really loved Bill Clinton despite his philandering. She topped even that by saying, "Men are better leaders than women." That really came out of nowhere, but it was interesting nonetheless. Two cultures colliding together to form the American dream, plus a really funny, but ironically honest and valid, political opinion. She realized something simple but important... Bush is trying to kill the American dream.
1 Comments:
Great Post. "Preach on, Brother Z!"
By
Anonymous, at 5/24/2004 11:40 PM
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