If you’ve visited these pages a few times over the years, then you know that this blog is not just about photography. I will write on anything that comes to mind. That includes pop culture, sports, music, TV or movies, politics, social discourse, my own past, especially my youth, and on and on.

I have written about old TV shows from my past. I wrote about Gunsmoke. I mentioned that I loved the atmosphere of that old western when it was black and white, but it lacked a little for me when they turned to full color. I have never mentioned what it was, beyond atmosphere, that I liked the most. Two words sum it up. One is duty and the other is justice.

Especially but not limited to Marshall Dillon. He made sure that the guilty stood trial and paid their dues, and that the innocent had their innocence justified, allowing them to be freed. It was not limited to Marshall Dillon.

Saloon owner Miss Kitty, Doc Adams, Chester, Quint, Newly, Festus, Sam the bartender and more. They each paid their dues making sure that everything was just. Both innocence and guilt were destined to  be rewarded or punished by all the regular characters on the show, and of course, especially the Marshal.

Both duty and justice are currently under assault. They have always been under assault to some extent, but we usually fought until the right side won. Those who were guilty eventually got their comeuppance, and those who were innocent were exonerated.

Many a battle has been fought, with weapons, words, and in courts, to achieve justice in order to punish the guilty and free the innocent. That meant that those who were punished only for seeking freedom of religion, speech, and other such things, eventually were eventually set free. Those who believed they could own human beings, were told differently by a war. By union soldiers performing their duties.

A long time back I served on a jury. It was just a small civil case, nothing of note. I and all my fellow jurors took the case, our duty, and arriving at a just conclusion so seriously, that at times the bailiff had to come in and settle things down. We of course were never in any physical danger and neither were our families.

I cannot imagine what it is like to serve your country, your county and your city as a juror, and have half the nation desiring to kill you if you reach a conclusion that they do not like.

Their job is that of duty and justice, not appeasing violent criminals.

The jobs of prosecutors and defense lawyers are not entirely the same. The defense lawyer’s duty is to serve his/hers client, and do so to the best of their ability. A prosecuting attorney has the job of serving their community with honesty and in search of the truth. They are bound by a set of duties that includes if it comes to their attention, say through video, that the charges are not appropriate as to what actually happened, to then say such in the court n front of the judge, so justice can be served.

Duty and justice.

The job of a prosecutor is more difficult than that of a defense attorney because he/she are held to a higher standard of truth and honesty. They are “supposed” to be above all, and be about duty and justice, regardless of the result.

Nothing about performing one’s duty, and arriving at a just decision, is ever easy.

God Bless,
Wayne