Because I Can

Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Tonight Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away.  I do not want to address the politics involved in her dying, at this moment in time, and I am not qualified to eulogize her life.  But I have held on to this cover, of the Los Angeles Times, since October 2, 1993, when she first took her seat, on the highest court in the nation; and the fact that she was only the second woman to join the court mattered.

Look at her and Justice Sandra Day O’Conner!  They were pioneers.  The difference in their style is evident, but they both represented intelligent, determined, and powerful people, not just women, but people who set their sights on achieving, the top of the profession, and succeeded.

The picture, of the two, of them together, gave me hope; Justice O’Conner was not just an anomaly, Justice Ginsburg proved that at least that glass ceiling, at the Supreme Court, had been shattered.  There was indeed room, at that table, for women; to me that was inspiring.

I find both these women beautiful, but they were not on the front of the Times because of how they looked, rather it was because they were smart!  I was actually once told, by an incredibly nice man, who would never think of himself as a bigot, that I was too smart for any man to ever marry me.  I was so shocked by his words, they left me speechless.  Was I supposed to pretend to be stupid, for the rest of my life, in order to be able to get married?  I loved the idea that through these women’s appointments to the Supreme Court, we were finally given role models that were unabashedly intelligent!

I knew I would share this newspaper with you someday, sadly.  I should put this story under Ephemera, and perhaps I will cross reference it there; but I am posting this under “Because I Can”, because I can.  I am not confused, in the least, that I can live my life, on my own terms, because of God’s grace and mercy, and because of women like these, who said why not.

God speed Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

 

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