Yesterday, I went to court to fight a traffic ticket from a few months ago. A friend asked, what do you hope to happen? You broke the traffic law, right? Yes, I did change lanes across a solid white line, which(I was informed by the officer) is supposed to represent a wall. I was hoping for the police to not show up, then the ticket will be waved. I know I want to fight the ticket, because I didn’t like that the police was hiding under a tree in a gas station, staring at the solid white line, waiting for some unlucky person to cross it.

My mind wonders to the many times I fought tickets. I haven’t gotten that many traffic tickets in my life time. I have pretty much fought every ticket I got as an adult, including one parking ticket. Every time I sat in court, I wonder, is this really a good use of my time? I used to freelance, so I was well aware of my hourly rate. But the thing is, my time almost is irrelevant. It’s the idea of having the chance to express what I think is fair that brings me to court.

As I sat at the court, watching all the people defending their cases before me. I wonder what percentage of traffic tickets were fought in court. I realized, it takes a certain kind of people to want to fight their tickets. There were lots of police present, which hasn’t been my experience in the past. Despite of the police convincing evidences, people still fought for their innocence. It wasn’t so much that they didn’t break the law, it was that the police wasn’t being very fair. One guy said the police started to pull him over before he even ran the stop sign put out by a school bus. Another Spanish speaking woman, who had her niece translating, said everything the police officer said was not true. I think it take a person with a judge in his or her core to want to fight their tickets. (I wonder how many judges fight their traffic tickets. If you asked me, I think judges just aren’t given traffic tickets.)

In any case, here’s a write up by Caroline Myss on Judge Archetype.

-Seeks to balance justice and compassion (this is definitely why I was at court)

-Manages the fair distribution of power in any form, from military codes to marriage vows.

-Look for a history of mediating between people, and a lifelong learning process of developing high standards of justice and wisdom.

-Shadow Judge manifests as destructive criticism, judging without compassion as misuse of legal authority, or threatening others through association with the law.

All these speak to me, I can see the “judge” tendency all over my life. It’s serve me well. I am a fair and responsible person. I’ve also been hard on myself and others for no good reason. Fairness is a very important element in my life. Here it is again, sitting with me in court was the Judge within. I am happy that I express that side of me. It can’t be avoid. However, I’m happy that I know the judge within and can be relaxed about some of the things I held with rigidity.