Until There Are Nine
New York, N.Y. - 9/19/20: Makeshift memorial to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg outside the NY State Supreme Court By Ben Von Klemperer
During last week’s Vice Presidential debate, my eyes, along with those of everyone else watching on a big screen, became glued to a fly seemingly glued to the VP’s head.
My husband wryly quipped, “well, you know what attracts flies?” Not one to miss a chance to use the poop emoji, I whipped up an Instagram story with the beloved brown swirl being swarmed by flies sitting atop the VP’s head like a little hat. I added a decidedly politically incorrect caption about flies and their pro-pence-ity for you know what and ruffled a few feathers on Facebook.
There’s not much I love more than a good pun, and having worked in the chaos of political campaigns, albeit in the prehistoric days pre-Instagram, I thought the Biden/Harris camp’s quick, buzzy “Truth Over Flies” capitalization of the viral moment was nothing short of brilliant.
Photo of courtesy of Twitter
But my favorite meme was one with a stoic photo of the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the curt caption, “I sent the fly.” Nothing could be better, except maybe, “I Dissent The Fly,” but I digress.
I loved it for many reasons, but I think mostly because I was happy to see her back in the media mix. The insatiable news cycle we’ve come to know has been kicked into overdrive with the wackiness of 2020 and the news-making man at the helm of it, Donald Trump. It’s been less than one month since RBG’s death, and we’ve moved onto other topics like Trump’s Covid-19, Pence’s fly and the hurried nomination and hearings of RBG’s potential successor, Amy Coney Barrett.
I think the good-natured Ginsburg would have gotten a kick out of the meme, but the hyper-polarized politics surrounding her replacement would cause her further lamentation of a judiciary that once balanced power and is now being used as a pawn to help the president hold onto his.
As I read various RBG posts and profiles in the days and weeks following her death, I saw a resilient high school girl who looked up to the mother she lost to cancer. I saw a courageous, visionary young woman fueled by passion to fight for what’s right. I saw the confident wife of a man who was her biggest fan - a woman who was able to pursue her life’s work in part due to her partner’s support which was full of love and free of jealousy. I saw a working mother and doting grandmother who cherished both roles but wasn’t limited by them. I saw a real, resolute woman, and I saw the number nine.
Photo courtesy of US Supreme Court
She began her life on E. 9th Street in Brooklyn. She was one of nine women in her Harvard Law School class of about 500 men. After being asked when she thought there would be enough women serving on the highest court in the land, she famously replied, “when there are nine,” and of course, she served as one of nine on the bench herself. She seemed to have nine lives having come back from colon then pancreatic cancer, surgeries for her heart and lungs, injuries from multiple falls and radiation for the returned pancreatic cancer - and these are merely the physical roadblocks she refused to let take her down. It was in her ninth decade that she arose to rock-star status earning the Notorious RBG moniker and legions of new feminist fans. And she left an indelible legacy when she left this life in the ninth month of September, on the eve of Rosh Hashanah making her a “tzadik” or righteous person according to my mother-in-law Judy and Jewish tradition.
To my math-teaching mom’s chagrin, I’m not great with numbers, but I’ve sensed a deeper meaning in them ever since I recognized the recurrence of 11:11 as an eleven-year-old. I know next to nothing about numerology and had never heard of a life path number until the Instagram served me an ad yesterday with a way to learn my own. But like most other “ologies,” I’m eager to learn more when someone or something spikes my curiosity by purposely popping up. So I researched the number nine and smiled knowingly upon reading its meaning according to Numerology.com:
Photo by Egor Myznik on Unsplash
“The energy of the number 9 represents completion, but not finality.”
The 9 in Numerology acts as an usher in this process of transition or transformation, guiding and empowering us with its wisdom. It absorbs answers from a spiritual source, then delivers them to us in the real world. This number is a humanitarian at heart. It is compassionate, kind, and intent on putting its efforts toward creating the greatest good. The 9 in Numerology has gone through its fair share of hardship and is wiser, stronger, and more aware as a result. These first-hand experiences make it especially understanding of others who are struggling and willing to provide valuable support.”
Synchronistic, right? RBG fought more than her fair share of hardships personally and professionally with wisdom and heart, and boy...or better yet, girl, are we and the world better for it.
She worked tirelessly on behalf of gender equity breaking open the “cages pretending to be pedestals” that have held women back for centuries. But like the number nine, she was intent of putting her efforts to the greatest good which included her fierce advocacy on behalf of voting rights for all. She famously dissented to Shelby County v Holder, a 2013 case in which the majority ruled to undo the 1965 Voting Rights Act eliminating the need for states to get federal approval, known as preclearance, prior to making voting rule changes. RBG wrote,
“Throwing out preclearance when it has worked and is continuing to work to stop discriminatory changes is like throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet.”
And in an unwritten portion of the dissent, she quoted Martin Luther King adding her own emphasis saying,
“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice. But it only bends that way, she went on, if there is a steadfast commitment to see the task through to completion.”
There’s no doubt that Ruth Bader Ginsberg slayed her task of taking the patriarchy to task ensuring women have the right to realize their potential, but her mission to ensure justice for all is incomplete and in peril. The president and his sidekicks are orchestrating a litany of suppression tactics to steal the 2020 election including an attempt to jam through conservative SCOTUS nominee Amy Coney Barrett in the event the American people prove to be smarter than he gives them credit for and he needs to cash in a favor.
I don’t know if or how the Democrats will thwart Barrett’s appointment. But as RBG knew, it’s going to take more than the Supreme Court to protect voter rights. We need leadership from the local level up to Congress and the White House, and it’s up to each of us to ensure those who hold elected office hold this truth to be self-evident, that all people are created equal and deserve to have their voices heard.
Me and Matt after casting our votes.
Georgia early voting opened Monday, and my husband Matt and I braved the long line and a little rain to support Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, Jon Ossoff, Rev. Raphael Warnock and other candidates who I believe will work to expand the right of all Americans to vote not restrict it and who believe “we the people” is not reserved to people who look, sound, act or believe like them.
Whether you vote in person or via mail, please make a plan and make your voice count. Grab your ID, a mask, a snack, and an umbrella. Even if the skies are clear, let it serve as the symbolic baton RBG has passed us - the baton we’re holding tightly along with the voting rights she and so many fiercely protected. Carry it as a tribute to the woman who dissented the court’s decision to throw it out and a symbol of our steadfast commitment to fight to the finish line of justice for all, rain or shine.
