“When Great Trees Fall,” a poem by Maya Angelou
When great trees fall,
rocks on distant hills shudder,
lions hunker down
in tall grasses,
and even elephants
lumber after safety.
When great trees fall
in forests,
small things recoil into silence,
their senses
eroded beyond fear.
When great souls die,
the air around us becomes
light, rare, sterile.
We breathe, briefly.
Our eyes, briefly,
see with
a hurtful clarity.
Our memory, suddenly sharpened,
examines,
gnaws on kind words
unsaid,
promised walks
never taken.
Great souls die and
our reality, bound to
them, takes leave of us.
Our souls,
dependent upon their
nurture,
now shrink, wizened.
Our minds, formed
and informed by their
radiance,fall away.
We are not so much maddened
as reduced to the unutterable ignorance
of dark, cold caves.
And when great souls die,
after a period, peace blooms,
slowly and always
irregularly. Spaces fill
with a kind of
soothing electric vibration.
Our senses, restored, never
to be the same, whisper to us.
They existed. They existed.
We can be. Be and be
better. For they existed.
Sermon:
I think all liberal, progressive people will remember what we
were doing and what we felt when we heard the news that Supreme Court Justice
Ruth Bader Ginsburg had died. My first reaction was shock. Of course I knew she
had been battling cancer, but she had been battling and beating it for 20
years. I guess I thought she would do it again. Then came deep sadness ,that
her beautiful bright light had been extinguished. I retreated for some alone
time, and read the many tributes already being posted. And it was only a while
after, that, like you I’m sure, I began
to think about what her death would mean for our country, the real possibility
of a conservative court for the next 50 years, where our children and grandchildren
will not have the rights that we do now. And then, the hateful, political
rhetoric and maneuvering began.
But I want to ignore that part today to lift up the life and
legacy of this woman who devoted herself to fighting for equal rights for women
and minorities. A first generation American on her father’s side and second
generation on her mother’s, she said that the three most important lessons her
parents taught her were to love learning, to care about other people, and to
work hard for what she believed in, and that’s
what she spent her life doing. One of only 9 women in her class at
Harvard Law School, in 1956, she found barriers everywhere. But in her second
year, as the mother of a 2-year-old, and with a husband fighting cancer, she
was among the top 25 of over 500 students, the criteria to make Law Review,
which she did. While her husband Marty was ill, she attended his classes and
her own, organized his friends to help, and typed all his assignments. That,
she said, is when she learned to burn the candle at both ends, which she
continued doing for the rest of her life. Unable to find a job in a law firm
after graduation,
because she was a woman, she began teaching women’s studies and taking on sex discrimination cases. When she first started arguing before the Supreme Court, she said she saw herself as a kindergarten teacher, educating privileged male justices about issues they had never even questioned. And with the landmark cases that she won as general counsel to the ACLU, she became the leading gender rights lawyer of her generation. We are all familiar with her record as the 107th justice of the US Supreme Court, where she freely exercised her dissenting voice. And where she joined the majority in cases of discrimination, legalizing same- sex marriage and allowing dreamers, immigrants brought here as children, to remain and go to school. Ruth also loved the opera, the only place, she said, where her mind was completely clear of work and she was immersed in beauty. Although she was considered the somber one in her marriage, Marty being the gregarious life of the party, she had great wit and humor. One of my favorite stories, which you might have heard, was about her son, James. She said that when he was young, she considered him a lively boy, but the school psychologist called him hyper-active. She was always being called away from work to go to the school to hear about something he had done. Then one day, when they called, she said, “James has two parents, and it is his father’s turn.” And after that, although James’ behavior did not improve, they seldom called because they didn’t like taking a man away from his job. Then, she added with a twinkle in her eye, “and probably because when Marty was told that James’ latest offense was stealing the elevator, he replied, ‘How far could he have taken it?’” Ruth taught us so much. The importance of hard work, commitment, and civility; She taught us that change doesn’t happen overnight; that dissent is patriotic; that women belong in all places where decisions are made. She taught us to speak truth to power; to appreciate the joy of being alive; and to help keep our country in tune with its most basic values.
While watching her Service of Remembrance at the Supreme Court, seeing all 120 of her former law clerks, spread out across the front, to welcome and guard her casket, all the young people there, who referred to her as the Notorious RBG, and were trying hard to follow in her footsteps, and a little girl in a Supergirl costume saluting her casket, gave me hope that her legacy will be fulfilled. Someone called her a prophet, one who imagined a new world and then worked to make it a reality. I agree. And just as Elisha took up the mantle from the prophet Elijah, it is now our turn to take up her mantle and carry it forward. Yes, these are hard times, but we can’t give up. When we get weary, we can look to Ruth as a model of how to keep fighting to make the world better. And perhaps we can become a part of the peace that blooms when great souls, like Ruth Bader Ginsburg, die.
I think the cicadas liked the sermon, too! Thanks for the RGB tribute and lovely music - thanks Pegge and Jane!
ReplyDelete