Citizen Coughlin

Seems to me we get two ways to add value to the U.S. just by being a U.S. citizen.

First, we get the opportunity to vote. When I was younger, I used to say, "I don't know enough about the candidates to vote, and besides what's one vote going to matter." I no longer think that way. I get the OPPORTUNITY to vote. That's a very big deal. That affects the future of a country, a state, or a community. It takes maybe 30 minutes out of one day to vote, maybe an hour.

The other opportunity we get is to serve on a jury. The whole judicial system is based on evidence being presented to a jury of 12 people to make a unanimous decision or to say, "We just couldn't agree." I served on a jury last week. It was very intense and very exhausting. There had been a murder. We deliberated for eight hours. Every person in the room was mentally exhausted at the end of our four days of serving jury duty. In the end I know we did our very best to make the best decision we could with what we were given.

Serve on a jury. Don't try to get out. Don't try to think of someone you know that will cause you not to get selected. Serve on the jury and do the best you can.

Go to the voting booth and do the best you can.

If we want our country to accelerate, we need to all take a role in adding the value we can in the opportunities we are given.