Vanderbilt trial juror: Do the right thing

As I sit and reflect in the aftermath of the recent trial of Brandon Vandenburg and Cory Batey, I am moved to take a moment to share my thoughts.

As a juror for the case I sat with 13 other citizens and watched the evidence unfold over the course of two weeks and was then asked to render a verdict.

So what? This is the job of a juror and we played our assigned roles as requested and now return to our regularly scheduled lives.

By no means do I imply that this role was inconvenient professionally and personally, nor do I imply we were not profoundly emotionally affected by bearing witness to the tragedy.

Although the facts of this case were decided on evidence proving actions taken by others, there was an undertow throughout the case of missed opportunities by society to intervene throughout a June night in 2013.

The defense council purported that a "culture" among college students led these young men to view their behavior as acceptable.

I do not currently live in the dormitory of a university and cannot tell you with certainty what is the acceptable norm.

Yet the mores of any society are driven by the beliefs and actions of the majority of citizens, and hence we as individual members each bear a burden of responsibility to promote our "culture."

I would propose that our lives are filled with opportunities to serve our fellow humankind, occasionally in noteworthy heroics, but more often in small but meaningful acts of humanity and citizenship.

We have a collective responsibility to set the normative standards that define our "culture" through our actions.

So whether living on a college campus or as citizens in a larger community, we could all look for opportunities to "do the right thing."

Take an opportunity when a juror summons arrives in the mail to serve the community rather than to find an excuse.

Take a moment to encourage a struggling teenager to row against the stream of peer pressure.

Take a moment to help a citizen in need even if it means being late for an appointment.

Take the opportunity to define our culture through acts of humanity and goodwill rather than blame, deflect and find fault in others.

We cannot rely upon the elusive "they" to act in our stead nor wait for a system alteration to safeguard our society. I am reminded today that we are each responsible, through our actions, for projecting a societal norm in which promote the welfare of others.

Dr. Geoffrey M. Fleming of Nashville served as juror in the rape trial against former Vanderbilt University football players Brandon Vandenburg and Cory Batey. They were convicted of their crimes on Jan. 27.