I grew up in an era when a public figure’s death was honored and there were certain protocols that were followed to pay respects to them.
Grief was the overwhelming emotion that we shared as a country, while we collectively mourned in the most appropriate ways.
When I saw the blatant and egregious ways in which too many politicians responded to the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, and within a few hours I was horrified and shocked.
The idea of politicizing her death would have been unthinkable before the COVID-19 pandemic, and now it seems everything in an election year is up for grabs in order to manipulate an agitated voting population. The moral compass seems to have been lost now that over 200K deaths due to the Coronavirus have been rationalized.
RBG as she has come to be known by millions of adoring women and girls represented service to this country that few can claim. The impact of her decisions while on the SCOTUS will have a lasting impact on this country unless her opponents go unbridled in their greed and pursuit of their political agendas.
Grief is a tricky thing and it must be respected by each person’s experience with it. Sadness is a hard emotion for many people to live with, it leaves them feeling hopeless and lost.
Grief is a sacred process of the soul and it typically unites people in its experience for the person who has passed away. With the rush to politicize her death, few have had the time to even reflect on her death and its impact on the country she serves relentlessly as a SCOTUS justice of nearly 30 years.
Greed is exaggerated selfishness that is driven to take on more power or whatever its object. It is often the result of an ego that has not been satisfied with enoughness.
Sadly, the death of RBG has resulted in deep grief for many people who respect her work and her impact on the American people, more specifically women.
Most rational people are expected to be in the grieving stage currently which might very well last for weeks and months. The soul must have the time it needs to process the death in order to return to a healthy homeostasis.
There are people, mainly impetuous politicians who are glossing over the grief and going right for the what’s in this for them. Their obsession with greed prevents them from being able to see the human side of this experience. Their ego is tone death when it is in pursuit of its object of greed.
Grief allows us to settle into the next phase of life without the person who passed being a part of our lives. The loss of the person will always have an impact us and getting our heads wrapped around that might be challenging in the best of times, and even more arduous in times like these with the COVID-19 pandemic still uncontrolled.
Greed is considered to be one of the seven deadly sins in the Christian faith and yet most if not all of the politicians who are rushing to replace RBG on the SCOTUS are ignoring their faith.
I am doing exactly what is being done in this country at this time and pitting the words grief and greed against each other. I am suggesting that one is good and one is bad, I am setting up the conflict for people to chose their side. I am giving people the opportunity to reflect on their own beliefs, insights, and faith.
Throughout my adult life, I held multiple corporate leadership roles. I made the decision early on in my career to dedicate my life to developing not only my own leadership style but also the leadership styles of those I have worked within my various roles as a leader, coach, and mentor.
I am convinced now more than ever, that elected politicians who are in place to represent the people of their states and districts are not LEADERS.
LEADERS do not build trust, respect, and camaraderie with hypocrisy, arrogance, or impunity.
The politicians who refused to do their jobs in 2016 and accept and vote on a replacement justice and are now rushing to do it in less time are in fact failing to uphold any moral standards.
The hypocrisy has been documented in video and print and still, the manipulated masses are unwilling to accept the facts.
Furthermore, the arrogance of thinking they are above the expectations and requirements of the position they hold is not characteristic of any leader worth following.
Lastly, the assertion overtly and not so overtly that they are above the law and exempt from impunity is a travesty of a person’s character or lack thereof.
I wrote this article to share my thoughts and insights for those people who might want the opportunity to grieve and mourn the loss of RBG.
I am adamantly opposed to the introduction of greed into the grieving process for RBG or any other public servant, no matter their political party affiliation. I was brought up to uphold the sanctity of the grieving and mourning processes.
The one thing I know as I write this article is that there will be people who will pick one side or the other in what I have shared about grief and greed.
What I hope for in sharing this article is that people will resist the temptation to be ugly and find their way to understanding and accepting what we have in common, our right to vote.
Voting is the action each of us can take to make the changes that we strongly believe need to be made in Our country.
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Image Ben J