Jury Duty

I have been summoned to appear in court for Jury Duty. It's amazing to me how awkward people are around others they dont' know. I had to report today and I was rather excited about it, but before getting to the excited part there was a line, roughly, 1 mile to 1.5 miles long. It snaked around buildings, glided down sidewalks, arched up stairs until it ended on the other side of all the security. In this line of hundreds (attorneys, defendants, plantiffs, jurors like me) no one spoke on word to another. After you 'sign' in you are herded to a room full of people (approx 130 per room) once again where everybody stares at you and sits in that horrible awkward silence - there is however a couple people in a corner that know each other and are conversing, but mostly it's the rustle of newspaper and a few cell phone chimes.