Ruth Bader Ginsburg, March 15, 1933-September 18, 2020. Rest in peace.
As I was about to write a Happy Friday Happy Hour post, I turned on my phone and heard the horrible news that we have lost one of our leading lights, one of our wise women, one of our champions of justice. Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
That this should happen now, in a year which seems more like an dystopian apocalypse movie than real life, seems like overkill. If I were editing this script, I’d tell the screenwriter to tone it down a bit. How are we to handle the continued punches?
I don’t know. First, maybe, we honor and mourn RBG. I will watch the film. I will find a biography and read it. I will learn more specifically what she stood for and try to be more like her. Because we need to pick up the banner and carry it forward, people.
We can dissent: When we see injustice, we dissent! When we see lack of empathy, we dissent! When we see cruelty and shaming and ruined lives, we dissent!
As women (and as male advocates), we can fight for the rights that she strove so long and hard to win and protect. We can stay informed. We can march once this pandemic is over. We can write. We can lift our voices in the vast internet-sphere. We can create. We can study. Some of us may even decide to study law.
I’m not drinking alcohol at the moment, but I will lift my mug of lavender chamomile tea to this amazing, inspiring, brilliant woman. RIP RPG.
The light
has not left us alone in the darkness, fumbling, terrified.
We have each other.
Look ahead, envision the world sparkling anew
after a terrible storm.
Let’s not despair. There is no valor in it.
Instead, resist!
Debbie Broderick
18 Sep 2020Devastating news indeed. But you’re right, it would be disrespectful to her legacy to give up now. She was a valiant warrior.
Shelley Burbank
19 Sep 2020Good point, Debbie! It would be disrespectful. I watched the movie last night. What a classy, brilliant, funny woman.
MARTHA J BROSIO
18 Sep 2020Shelley, Thank you for this post. It gives me hope. Hard to have with all of the sadness and despair I feel these days.
Shelley Burbank
19 Sep 2020Martha, my dear friend. Yes, me must not give up hope! I’m visualizing a better future. If nothing else, it makes me feel better. Hang in there!
Mary Ann
19 Sep 2020Love the poem!
Shelley Burbank
19 Sep 2020Ah, Mary Ann, thank you, my friend. I never know about poetry. This just came straight out of my heart last night.
Georgette
19 Sep 2020Well said, Shelley. May she rest in peace, knowing we will carry on, each in our own way. We love you Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Shelley Burbank
19 Sep 2020As difficult as it is to stay positive, we must. I keep telling myself that nothing is accomplished by feeling defeated and acting defeated. So the blows keep coming? Well, we have to just face them. I’m doing my best to look forward to better days. Thanks for reading, Georgette.