Last night I received a text from my friend simply saying “RBG” with a string of broken hearts. I immediately opened my news app to see the headline that Ruth Bader Ginsburg had died from cancer complications and felt my heart sink.
Some of you may not know a lot about Ruth Bader Ginsburg, or maybe just know her from the meme and rap name made for her “Notorious RBG”. But before her internet fame, RBG was a trailblazer, who knew “Women belong in all places where decisions are being made. It shouldn’t be that women are the exception.”
Joan Ruth Bader was born in 1933 in Brooklyn, New York to her Jewish immigrant parents. Her mother fostered Ruth to be strong and independent, she is quoted as saying “ My mother told me to be a lady. And for her, that meant be your own person, be independent.” Ruth went on to law school and graduated from Harvard even though she was only one of nine women in a class of 500. Once graduated, she became a lawyer, fighting for gender equality and making a name for herself in the DC circuit courts for two decades before becoming a Justice. Once appointed, she continued to fight and vote for equality, and, of course, dissent, when she thought the wrong decisions were being made.
RBG has done a lot of interviews over the years, but one of my favorites is one she did with the New York Times, giving her advice for living. She talks about fostering a love of reading, thanking her mother for “making reading a delight”. RBG goes on to tell us to make sure to foster independence, seek out great teachers, turn a deaf ear when needed, set aside your worries and simply achieve, make your own luck, and pray they marry the right person. Being a strong mother of a daughter herself, I’m sure Justice Ginsburg took these life lessons to heart.
On Friday night shortly after her death, people began to gather at the courthouse steps in DC leaving flowers, writing messages, and lighting candles in Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s memory. Looking at the pictures of the steps this morning, while I drank my coffee and slowly, I let myself be sad and cry over the loss of someone that I have never known personally. Because I know that she did so much to help me and future generations and I felt a togetherness with the people at the vigil. I will not be there in person, but I stand with them, mourning the death of a great person.
I welcomed the popularity of RBG and other women icons over the last few years, knowing that they would be great inspirations for my daughter and other young girls to look up to.
But her passing last night made me realize that there is more work to be done.
We all need to be strong models for our children and show them that everyone can make a big difference in this world. If you want to learn more about Ruth Bader Ginsburg and her accomplishments with your kids, this is a great place to start.
