Thank you, RBG

For so many women, Ruth Bader Ginsburg was our beacon of light; proof that it is possible to be seated at a table, where once only men were allowed. 

When ask, “When will there be enough women on the Supreme Court?’ 

Her answer: “When there are nine.”

She continued to say, “People are shocked when I say this, but there have been nine men, and nobody’s ever raised a question about that.”

Statements like this earned her the title of the Notorious RBG. She wasn’t afraid to say things that made people, particularly men, uncomfortable. Fierceness and fairness are possible.

Her compassion and humor made her feel like an old friend. Her honesty was matched by her brilliance. She believed that women belonged wherever decisions were being made--a belief, she had to standby, wait out, and advocate even up until her dying day at age 87.

2020 has felt unrelentingly cruel. Already people are lumping her death in with the tragedies. Her legacy is anything but tragic. Her revolutionary career was a gift. Even if you didn’t always align with her ideology, there is no denying some portion of her life’s work, have opened doors for us, that were once shut. 

In most of her pictures, her smile, reminiscent of the Mona Lisa, makes her appear to be holding in a secret. But instead of keeping it to herself, she has shared it. Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s legacy should embolden us all to continue the fight for equality. She taught us we can do absolutely everything men can do, and we can do it all while rocking the hell out of a statement necklace.