A Space for RBG
When I heard the news of her passing, I was stunned. Not possible! Her presence in the world was like a warm cup of Earl Grey in 2020. Like a cozy blanket. Like a field of sunflowers bursting forth with color.
Sigh.
But she is gone. Like John Lewis, she is gone.
And for a time, so was my hope as I watched the Republicans and Trump pounce. She hasn’t even been properly laid to rest, and they are already talking about who should fill her seat.
Because…of course they are. Hold Obama to a different standard. Hold the black man to a bizarre standard that they invented just because they could and stop him from filling a vacant Supreme Court seat; and then push their nomination through faster than in any time in our history.
Sigh.
Yesterday, I was full of rage and anger and the inhumanity of it all. COVID-19, climate change, 200,000+ American souls lost, economic peril. I was swimming in the hatred, the despair.
Until it hit me how unfair that was to her, to Ruth’s legacy. One person cannot possibly bear such a burden. Although tiny at 5 feet, Ruth Bader Ginsberg’s power came from her words and wit. Her stunning intellect and articulation of women’s rights made her a giant.
She was a fighter!
But she was only human, albeit, extraordinary.
Deep breath.
Thank you, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, for your unmatched contributions to this country. Thank you for fighting for women and voice and progress and grace. That is your legacy, a legacy that can never be replaced.
So today, I face the sun on this early morning, and greet it with hope. If a 5-foot woman from Brooklyn can face an all-white male Supreme Court and fight for her equality even before such a notion existed, I can surely take it from here!
Today, I choose to wrap her legacy tightly around my heart which is bursting with awe and respect for the Notorious RBG.
Today, I choose to remember that my voice is just as strong as hers. I am still here, so I lovingly and with reverence, take the mantle from her. She taught me how.
I exhale Love.
Rest in peace, dear RBG, I am a better woman because of you!
She spoke so that we could all speak. People drew her and our sex out, so she drew a BIGGER circle to draw them in and show how that benefitted EVERYONE. We have blindnesses now to this. But like birdwings – contraction is inevitably tied to expansion in human life, to the evolution of us all. That which feels impossible is only shortsightedness of imagination. I carry RBG’s imagination into speaking our beautiful future into being. So grateful she gave us this gift. Breathing with you, Sister.
Yes, such a gift! Hugs!