RBG. Her Force is with us.

Tonight, I was in the middle of telling my children during dinner how I’m reaching my limit for stomaching news. The emerging stories alleging that detainees were stripped of their reproductive organs for no medical reason and without their consent were too much for me. I could barely listen to news clips or read stories. Too much! While these whistleblower allegations have yet to be investigated, the horrible thing is that they seem plausible in our dystopian world where our Trump-led government caged and separated children from their parents at the border. I hate us.

Then, mid-sentence, a text rolled in from a former colleague, “well sh*t”, he wrote. I wondered if he dialed me by mistake. Then a barrage of texts came all at once from law school friends, old travel companions, a call from my Mom. Sad faces, scrawls of “no!” Ruth Bader Ginsburg has died! For so many she represented what is good and right in a human being. A great mind, a good heart, a strong work ethic, a drive for justice.

Wow, I thought, so many ways this plays out politically. My text response? “Brace for Impact”.

Then our family tuned into virtual services for Rosh Hashanah. The Rabbi’s voice and the Cantor’s song conveyed it all, a world of hurt contained within one calendar year. Slowly, I began to sink into my despair, then to feel communion in my mourning, and suddenly something like hope emerged. It occurred to me that RBG was a sheer force of nature, a giant in a tiny form. She held out for so long that her passing now cannot have been in vain.

She is our Obi-Wan, I thought. Strike her down and she will become more powerful than you can imagine. So I imagine she is with me, giving me the strength to finish strong in the next 46 days before the next election. Her force is with all of us.

Remembering RBG:

Joe Biden’s response to her passing:

President Trump’s response to her passing:

Mitch McConnell’s Bald Hypocrisy:

Here is a reminder of how Mitch McConnell never even gave a hearing to President Obama’s highly qualified, politically moderate, and bi-partisan-favored candidate, Merrick Garland, to fill Justice Scalia’s vacant seat 11 months before the next presidential term. He has already vowed to move forward with a hearing for whoever Trump nominates despite only being a few months out from the next presidential term.

Be well. Be strong. And may her force be with you.