RBG [View all]

[H2O Man]

Rest in peace, Ruth Bader Ginsburg. You fought the Good Fight. Thank you for that. And you left us the lessons of your example.

Now, a simple message to the DU Community: The death of this powerful lady is surely a heavy blow. It hurts. It would be foolish to attempt to deny this. But it is not the end of the fight.

Admittedly, I'm not the smartest person in this room. But I'll bet a dollar to a doughnut that I have the most experience in fighting. And in 329 boxing matches -- and thousands of rounds sparring -- I do have some experience in getting hit hard and being hurt. Yes, I do!

I just watched a film of RBG working out in a gym with Stephen Colbert. I believe the film was taken after her first round fighting cancer. Now, there was one tough lady. I'm sure she hurt, but she was 100% focused on fighting. That was an important lesson we must keep in mind.

Somewhere in this large, old house, there are films of a few of my boxing matches. Fortunately, they are on 8 mm film, so I can't subject you to them. Instead, above is film of one of the toughest men to ever fight, Smokin' Joe Frazier. But before I comment on the above film, a little background.

Joe had lost twice in the trials for the 1964 Olympics to Buster Mathis. However, because he broke his hand in the second bout, Mathis declined to represent the USA. This allowed Joe to, despite the fact that he, too, had broke his hand in that second fight. Joe won Olympic Gold. Buster went on to be a top contender in the professional ranks, and Joe went on to be the world heavyweight champion.

The above film is of his first fight with tough Jerry Quarry. The first round was one of the most explosive in boxing history, with Jerry landing bombs that hurt Joe. On his way back to his corner when the round ended, Joe smiled to himself, and hit himself a couple times on his head. Why? Because he knew he was in for a really tough fight, and even though part of it would be difficult, he welcomed the opportunity to prove he could pull out the victory.

RBG had that same fighting spirit. Her death is sad, and comes at a bad time. There are, in my opinion, two options: we can fight for the title, despite having a broken bone in our hand, or we can wring our hands and give up. By fighting the Good Fight, we can honor her spirit.