Feest Isolation Days – 21 September
Ruth Bader Ginsberg was a woman to be reckoned with. She was born in Brooklyn, New York to Jewish immigrant parents. At Harvard Law School she finished top of her class. There were 9 women and 500 men studying law at the time. Not one single job offer was forthcoming despite her obvious abilities. Yet, she persevered with her chosen profession. In 1972 she became the first tenured female professor at Columbia Law School.
President Jimmy Carter nominated her to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in 1980. She was appointed to the Supreme Court by President Bill Clinton in 1993, becoming only the fourth female justice.
According to Jewish tradition, a person who dies on Rosh Hashanah, which began the night she died, is a tzaddik, a person of great righteousness. Totally fitting for a woman who spent her life fighting for justice. Rest in Peace Ruth. We all have a lot to thank you for.
More than ever before, it is important that the Democrats win the November Presidential election which is six and a bit weeks away. They would be able to serve up more Justices if they are in a position of power. This will no doubt be necessary. Within hours of her death being announced, Mitch McConnell said he would be endorsing Trumps pick for the Supreme Court.
There are times when the current situation we all find ourselves in is really rather tough to watch. This is one of them. Ugh. But Ruth left us with some excellent advice.
I liked her style. She’s my kind of woman. Here are a few more quotes from RGB:
1. “Real change, enduring change, happens one step at a time.”
2. “So often in life, things that you regard as an impediment turn out to be great, good fortune.”
3. “Reacting in anger or annoyance will not advance one’s ability to persuade.”
4. “When a thoughtless or unkind word is spoken, best tune out.”
5. “You can’t have it all, all at once.”
6. “I’m a very strong believer in listening and learning from others.”
7. “In the course of a marriage, one accommodates the other”
8. “In every good marriage, it helps sometimes to be a little deaf.”
9. “A gender line…helps to keep women not on a pedestal, but in a cage.”
10. “If you want to be a true professional, do something outside yourself.”
11. “Reading is the key that opens doors to many good things in life. Reading shaped my dreams, and more reading helped me make my dreams come true.”
12. “Don’t be distracted by emotions like anger, envy, resentment. These just zap energy and waste time.”
13. “You can disagree without being disagreeable.”
14. “If you have a caring life partner, you help the other person when that person needs it. I had a life partner who thought my work was as important as his, and I think that made all the difference for me.”
15. “Women belong in all places where decisions are being made. It shouldn’t be that women are the exception.”
16. “I would like to be remembered as someone who used whatever talent she had to do her work to the very best of her ability.”
Here in Britain, Covid is on the march again. We wait to hear what new plans there are in England to manage the latest outbreaks. Today’s latest is that people who have been identified as having Covid or have been contacted by Test and Trace and should be at home in quarantine will be fined up to £10,000 if they go out and about. How will that work?
Speaking of Test and Trace, it doesn’t seem to be doing the job very well. NHS Test and Trace is an outsourced service provided to the National Health Service in England. What’s NHS about it? The woman who heads up Track and Trace, Dido Harding, now also heads up the replacement for the governments abandoned agency Public Health England. She has no healthcare experience in any capacity at all. Her husband, John Penrose is a member of the advisory board of the think tank ‘1828’, which calls for the NHS to be replaced by an insurance system and for Public Health England to be scrapped. One down one to go! Ugh!
In these Covid coming back days, it seems a good time to enjoy the flowers in the garden. And to have dinner with friends. Wish I could invite you all round!
It’s also time for another round of cake baking as well.
Pear upside down cake. As the world does seem like it’s being turned upside down, it seemed the perfect cake for now.
Enjoy what you can and be safe. The second wave is approaching…..
With love
Kathy x