It’s February 2019 and I’m on a flight to New York. Stationary hours stretch ahead of me. I’m halfway through my snacks and a mediocre book.

Fidgety, I scroll through the onboard entertainment. To my left, a sleeping husband and son, grant me my viewing freedom.

Endless choices blow my mind. I dally between chick flick, biopic and documentary. A bespectacled woman stares out from the screen. She wears a lace collar, her hair is scraped back, her eyes sharp. This was a lady who knew her ‘power.’

As I pressed play, I had no clue about the legend I was about to meet. Ruth Bader Ginsburg (RBG), Supreme Court Justice and liberal darling, was the subject of this story.

As we flew over the Atlantic I watched her life unfold. Born in Brooklyn, to Jewish parents, she shook taboos from the start. As a student she fought chauvinism for her place at Harvard Law School. She won the first tenured, female professorship at Columbia Law. She was a formidable champion of women’s rights and gender equality. She made history in 1993, as the second only female Justice (holding this position into her 80’s).

This woman was inspiring by anyone’s standards. She’d put her time on earth to great use. Her achievements had made her an icon to upcoming generations. She was formidable, exemplary and unique. Yet on that tiny screen, she came across as modest, diminutive, shy even.

The air hostess came bearing tea. I declined, riveted to the screen. My son woke, needing the bathroom. Reluctantly, I shepherded him up and down the aisle. I raced back to RBG.

As the pilot announced our descent, the film credits rolled. Days later, I would visit Brooklyn. I would imagine a young Ruth Bader walking under the bridge, holding her parents hands.

Flash forward, 20 months and I wake to the the announcement of her death. Complications from pancreatic cancer had cut her mission short.

It is a sad day, tears shall be shed. Her leaving is all the more stark as America fights for its soul. The world is in a dark place right now. The equality she fought for is under threat.

Yet her imprint shall remain. Ruth Bader Ginsburg blazed trails right to her last breath. We must continue the good fight, in honour of her outstanding legacy.

“Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you.”

Ruth Bader Ginsburg (March 15, 1933 – September 18, 2020)