In this heavy vortex and intense year that the world and our country have had, the news of Ruth Bader Ginsberg’s passing further shook us up, for she personified the goodness of our complex and flawed governmental system. She was the voice of peace, truth, reason, wisdom, and justice. As she closed her eyes to the physical world something within us awakened. At first, the sadness and grief set in, and then something else flowed slowly through our veins and pumped our hearts…an awakening, a rise, of the deep yearning of the goodness and courage that we saw in her, was now rising within us. Ruth Bader Ginsberg, made us feel safe, we mattered to her, this country mattered to her, and that my dear ones, somehow felt lost and forgotten to us amidst the chaos of this year.
Deep grief has sat in many hearts at her passing, as many have thought, who will now protect the gates? Who will stand up for us? But, we have to remember Ruth Bader Ginsberg will never die, she and everything she stood for and represented lives inside of us all. Her legacy that was built over a lifetime, lives on, in each of us and our world. It is engraved not only in history but in the map of our lives. We so admired and respected this powerful beam of light, because she was the good, the humanity, of our world. And in truth, she was and is a part of us, of who we are.
We each have a Ruth Bader Ginsberg within us.
We all have the light, the love, the greatness, and inner-power to touch others, and lift and aid another. We have this goodness, it resides within us, even though we forget it at times. In truth, each one of us is powerful beyond measure, and what we do and say has rippling effects and touches so many, many that we do not ever see.
In a year such as this, when our lives have drastically changed, when so many have and are suffering, we can claim two things, the choice is ours – our humanity, or our fear. The truth is that we are afraid, we are scared on so many levels, but should it define us? Is it truly what we wish to put out into the world and our lives? Or do we want to claim the goodness, the inner power that lives through our light?
We will wipe our tears, we will erase the dust from our tired shoes, and we will rise, we will stand tall, we will lift and carry one another, and we will believe that we can overcome all adversities if we understand that our problems, our challenges, and our triumphs affect our world, we are all part of one chain, one world, one pulse.
So as Ruth Bader Ginsberg is laid to rest, she will now be our guiding angel…we will call upon her, in times of confusion or despair, and like all angels, we will trust that she is watching over our world. And the best way we can honor the Ruth Bader Ginsbergs and John Lewis’ of our world is to create footprints that will propel humanity forward, not backward.
We will not lose hope, nor faith. We will not fear, but love. We will not divide but unite.
This is the mantra we will recite, and soon we will see that our voices have been not only heard, but this will be the new song for our century.
Onward we will move together…Believe…
Mitra Rahbar