I just read the news about the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. How do we process this grief? There are so many ways she defied stereotypes and was a champion for the equality for all persons. As one friend put it; through sheer will, she lived this long. The words of Mary Oliver comes to mind in this moment of shock and grief.
The Summer Day Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear? Who made the grasshopper? This grasshopper, I mean- the one who has flung herself out of the grass, the one who is eating sugar out of my hand, who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down- who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes. Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face. Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away. I don't know exactly what a prayer is. I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass, how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields, which is what I have been doing all day. Tell me, what else should I have done? Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon? Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life? —Mary Oliver
We might all be so lucky to live a wild and precious life for 87 years as RGB had. Rest In Peace child of God. My daughters and many other children around the world will know remember your service to humanity. They will know your actions, your grit and pure determination.
Photo credit: Magnolia pictures Screenshot of Ruth Bader Ginsburg from the documentary “RBG”