Did you miss me? I will brief you individually on my crazy 10 days later.
“Beyond a reasonable doubt”
You may have heard this on TV or even (Heaven forbid) in court. It is a legal term that deals with deciding guilt or innocence. You see, when a crime is committed you normally don’t have 12 jurors standing around watching. They are usually busy living their own lives. The jurors are selected randomly at a later time, and obviously did not witness the crime.
So what happens is each lawyer brings up people who did see things, or who know things. They give their testimony and then the jurors try to decide who and what to believe . . . beyond a reasonable doubt.
It works in our judicial system. I mean no one in the court really knows for certain what happened in that ally, or during the scuffle, or who stole that purse. They have to listen and observe, and then make a decision. The final decision can be based on ANYTHING they so chose. They can base the decision on the actions of the witness while on the stand. They can base it on how the questions are answered. They can base it on a visual observation of how the witness interacts with others while in court. They can base it on historical knowledge of the person and how forthcoming they have been during their life.
The bottom line is that when the testimony ends, someone is either guilty or innocent beyond a reasonable doubt. That’s the law . . . and that is life.
I bring this up because one of my faults in life is I constantly seek the truth in every aspect and every situation. And quite frankly, I get immensely frustrated when I can’t find the truth. I know that it is a problem of mine, and I even seek the answer to why it bugs me so much.
As I was pondering this phenomenon, I started thinking that if the phrase “beyond a reasonable doubt” is good enough for an entire country, and possibly the best judicial system in the history of the world, then it should be good enough for me. If I cannot find the truth, then I should accept a decisions made by me.
I know what you are doing. Right now you are mumbling to yourself, “Who the heck does this guy think he is to stand in judgment of others?”
C’mon! You know me. I have no room to judge anyone. So I am not talking about judging people here. I am talking about accepting something perhaps less than 100% certainty in the event that 100% certainty is hidden or kept from me. Instead of sitting and trying to find ways to gain 100% certainty, I now think that I can accept a reasonable solution based on actions, words and behavior.
Suppose I had a friend and I “suspected” that they were stealing cable service. (Ok, that is a silly example but work with me here) Of course they deny it, but based on my observations (I.e. no cable bills, green wires running to the house, hiding from the cable vans, etc) then I can surmise beyond a reasonable doubt that my friend is in fact stealing cable and that for whatever reason he chooses to lie to me about it. Now if I acted on this assumption by calling the cable company I then become the executioner. If I walk up to my friend, look them in the eyes and tell them they are lying, then I am the judge.
But if I chose simply to not associate with them because of my belief, then I am just making a personal choice. I wouldn’t be the judge or the executioner. I think a lot of people miss this point in life. You don’t have to associate with anyone you don’t want to. And if you believe that beyond a reasonable doubt someone is stealing cable, you can disassociate from them.
Maybe this will make me a bit saner in the future. I do feel better already. I will try to observe, ask questions and collect as much information as possible. When or if the “well runs dry” I will make a decision based on something less than 100% certainty and NOT FEEL BAD ABOUT IT.
I don’t care that they steal cable service. I do care that they hide it from me. I’m really not that stupid.
Ok, check this one off my list of phobias.
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