Like millions of others around the world, I was deeply saddened when I learned that Ruth Bader Ginsburg died on September 18. I admire many things about her, from her fitness regimen to her incalculable contribution to equality for all people in the United States. My physiotherapist has her fitness book in the waiting area, and I had a little tin of RBG “judgemints” on my desk for a couple of years. I can’t find it now.
The morning after Ruth died, I found a strange sight in my livingroom. I keep my Judge badge from the 2019 Mermaid Parade with a collection of other little mementos on the window sill. Suddenly, the card was upside-down. I took it as a personal message from Ruth to me, but I don’t know what it means yet. Perhaps simply an honoring of her passing.
In the Tarot deck, the justice card reversed means: Law in all its departments, legal complications, bigotry, bias, excessive severity. This could be a portent of what’s to come, with the immediate, hypocritcal nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. I definitely felt a call to action, and wrote an article for my local paper giving people information on how to vote.
On a cool evening, Sunday, September 20, I went up to Columbia University to see her shrine, which mourners had created in an impromptu fashion in front of the Alma Mater statue at the Library of Columbia University.
I lit a candle in her memory, and spent a few minutes wishing her peace on her spirit journey, and feeling gratitude for all she has done in her lifetime. There were students sprinkled here and there on the steps, and I envied them the chance to be starting out in life, with the tremedous opportunities that studying at Columbia will bring them. The campus is wide, open, and beautiful, with lovely architecture, and I felt inspired to study there myself! A woman walking her dog came up to the shrine, and told me it had grown a lot since the night before.
To the left (out of frame) were more yellow legal pads with messages on them. May the young folks who left these gifts be a flotilla of guiding lights in the world.
The flags on campus were flying at half-mast in RBG’s honor, and as you probably heard on the news, Justice Ginsburg received two honors that no other woman has: “She became the first woman to lie in repose at the Supreme Court Building on September 23 and, the following day, became the first justice to lie in repose for a second day. On September 25, she lay in state at the Capitol, becoming the first woman and first Jewish person to do so.” (Wikipedia)
On my way home I encountered a festive scene: people dining in bubbles at Cafe Du Soleil on Broadway! Humanity is endlessly inventive in finding ways to thrive and flourish and enjoy life.
There are two fascinating films about RBG, which I watched on Hulu:
- RBG – documentary about her life and contributions.
- On the Basis of Sex – a biographical film about her early life and career.
They are both excellent films, inspiring and celebratory of a great life and humble woman who kept following the path of her own inner vision. I loved seeing her mischievous spirit at play and learning how she got the nickname the Notorious RBG, after the fellow Brooklynite rapper the Notorious B.I.G.
Rest in Power, RBG.