23/09/2020
If we honor people in the present, the future lacks regret. We lost Justice Ginsburg, the tiny power house who burst into the scene and worked her way to the Supreme Court. I’m so grateful that as a piano tuner I had a few opportunities to execute my craft in preparation for her, both in formal settings and in private residences. We never really understand the scope of a life’s work until we step back and see it as a whole, and hers was an unyielding display of accomplishment.
The struggles she underwent to serve in the capacity she did were no joke. If any of you saw or read Hidden Figures, you’ll remember that Katherine Johnson had to run across campus just to find a bathroom she was permitted to use. Harvard Law School was similar in those days, lacking basic necessities like bathrooms for women. A friend of mine, and close friend of Justice Ginsburg told me that in her experience the Dean of the school had a meeting with the small group of women who’d been admitted to Harvard Law, and told them ‘You do realize that you’re just taking up a degree space in place of a man, who would actually use the degree.’
Though the challenges to women are many, there are many that I’ve never experienced because of people like Ruth Bader Ginsburg. And just as vital to the changes we’ve known are the many supportive men whose encouraging voices are increasingly in our corner.
And that brings me to you all, and the encouragement, support and resources I’ve experienced here. We keep on in the work of building community, building good things, and building lives. The powers of polarization are at work in ways I’ve never seen. So let’s continue onward in our daily work, so that at the end we can look back and see that we relentlessly built for good, and enriched all of those around us.
