Protecting the Flame

 

 

Friday night, social media was flooded with comments, memorials and quotes from a gently fierce woman, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. As the news of her death from cancer spread around the world, people began asking questions like, "Can anything else go wrong in 2020?"  and making statements like, "Now, we are lost." But, I see it differently.

Yes, my social justice, activist heart broke at the news that Justice Ginsburg was no longer with us on this physical plane. However, in an email to one of my daughters, I wrote something that inspired this post.  I wrote that with her death, I now knew what the disciples must have felt when they learned that Jesus had died. 

A TZADDIK

Not long after writing to my daughter, I read that "according to Jewish tradition, a person who dies on Rosh Hashanah, which began tonight, is a tzaddik, a person of great righteousness."  How perfect!  Justice Ginsburg absolutely embodied "great righteousness." 

While my first question, my first thought after learning of her death was, "What are we going to do?" I quickly remembered that while the life force of a person in gone from their body, their spirit, their soul, their essence permeates all of existence. They are more alive than ever.

Justice Ginsburg's spirit can infuse us all with her example, her strength and her courage to stand up for what is right. 

THE TORCH HAS BEEN PASSED

In the picture above is a quote that touched me back when I first worked as an activist. President Kennedy used the metaphor and alluded to the quote when he said,  “Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans, born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage, and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world."

The torch, the candle, the flame that Justice Ginsburg carried was that of equality for all, justice for all. She, like so many other enlightened beings shined brightly as a center of hope for so many. 

My friend, Paul, wrote to me upon hearing the news of Justice Ginsburg's death. He said, "Without her courage and sharp legal intellect Eugene and I would not be married."  Indeed, Justice Ginsburg's legal intellect changed the world for many.

"NOW WHAT?"

Leonard Cohen wrote, "There is a crack in everything...that's how the light gets in." 

Our world may seem very broken at this moment in time, but the Light that is shining through the cracks is there to illuminate what is dark and scary. 

Our task is to stand in the Light, look for ways to increase the brilliance. We can write, sing, dance, paint, protest, take photos, hold a hand or simply smile. We must not forget, the flame is still burning. We have the Torch of Freedom.  We have the Candle of Justice. We have the Light of Hope.  

Let us hold the Light high, like a beacon on a dark and rocky shore. Let the legacy that Justice Ginsberg left us continue without fail.