So here's me in a nutshell. I just filled out a jury duty form. Knowing that many people loathe the prospect of jury duty, I realized I'd be more apt to have that feeling over instead receiving a wedding invitation. Yes. I'd rather be government mandated, for an indiscriminate length of time, to adjudicate a criminal case, than be courteously offered the opportunity to voluntarily attend a single day of a friend's nuptials.
You see, in all practicality both are for me an inconvenience, potentially boring or awkward, & matter FAR more to others than to myself. These are both altruistic endeavors. However, where the option to not attend jury duty, ironically, is freeingly not up to me, whether to attend a wedding or not is solely up to me, & the consequences of that decision solely mine to bear, especially were I to decline & maybe offend/alienate a friend.
What's IMHO of the utmost importance though is the nature of these events, as it applies to me. In the case of a wedding, my involvement couldn't be more passive, relegated to a mere presence of moral support, for an event that IMO is the last thing on Earth that should require it. I can hardly think of a single thing that should require an approving audience less than a couple's bonding ritual.
OTOH! Not only is my involvement in jury duty an active, necessary, participatory engagement, I'm SO needed & potentially indispensable that the bloody government is (possibly) demanding I do it! In fact, people's legal futures could literally depend upon me. Frankly, I don't care how long, drawn out or even underwhelming a process it might be, if I'm that necessary to it, you win. I'm into it. What kind of ass would I be if I wasn't?
So yes. I dislike peoples' weddings more than jury duty. Hell, the former I'm not even sure why we do. PLUS, the law is something that DOES affect me. Maybe not in this case, but in the grand scheme, & TBH, I want to know it works, & what better way than to participate in it?
You see, in all practicality both are for me an inconvenience, potentially boring or awkward, & matter FAR more to others than to myself. These are both altruistic endeavors. However, where the option to not attend jury duty, ironically, is freeingly not up to me, whether to attend a wedding or not is solely up to me, & the consequences of that decision solely mine to bear, especially were I to decline & maybe offend/alienate a friend.
What's IMHO of the utmost importance though is the nature of these events, as it applies to me. In the case of a wedding, my involvement couldn't be more passive, relegated to a mere presence of moral support, for an event that IMO is the last thing on Earth that should require it. I can hardly think of a single thing that should require an approving audience less than a couple's bonding ritual.
OTOH! Not only is my involvement in jury duty an active, necessary, participatory engagement, I'm SO needed & potentially indispensable that the bloody government is (possibly) demanding I do it! In fact, people's legal futures could literally depend upon me. Frankly, I don't care how long, drawn out or even underwhelming a process it might be, if I'm that necessary to it, you win. I'm into it. What kind of ass would I be if I wasn't?
So yes. I dislike peoples' weddings more than jury duty. Hell, the former I'm not even sure why we do. PLUS, the law is something that DOES affect me. Maybe not in this case, but in the grand scheme, & TBH, I want to know it works, & what better way than to participate in it?