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"One
single aim fired us, the urge to embrace all experience,
and to bear witness concerning it…"
-
Simone
de Beauvoir
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Passion
will enrich your life when it comes with commitment, commitment
to your highest values, and to the growth and wellbeing of yourself
as well as to others. A “modern” story of passionate
love and commitment is that of Simone de Beauvoir and Jean Paul
Sartre. They were French intellectuals and philosophers who
fell in love in the spring of l929. They met at the university
in Paris where he was first in their class and she was second.
On their first get-together in a park, Beauvoir thought they
might read or take a walk, but Sartre had no desire to do anything
besides talk. They talked for hours. Ultimately, they talked
for the rest of their lives about their passionate interests.
“Sartre lived for his writing.” He not only encouraged
Beauvoir’s expressiveness, but “…exhorted me
to open my eyes to the manifold glories of life.”
Beauvoir’s
earliest passion was for personal freedom. She referred to the
freedom of being an adult as “intoxicating,” and having
her own door to shut as “the height of bliss.” She
and Sartre embraced a concept they called “radical freedom”
and carefully planned a life together that would support their
love, but bypass the “bourgeois marriage” that would
have cast Beauvoir in an oppressive, restrictive role.
“One
single aim fired us, the urge to embrace all experience, and
to bear witness concerning it… When we were together we
bent our wills so firmly to the requirements of this common
task that even at the moment of parting we still thought as
one. That which bound us freed us, and in this freedom we found
ourselves bound as closely as possible…”
United
States Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s earliest
passion was education. Born in l933 to first generation Jewish
immigrants, Ruth’s mother, Celia, influenced her love of
learning with frequent trips to the library and saved money
to prepare her daughter to attend college. Throughout Ruth’s
high school years her mother struggled with cancer and she died
the day before graduation. Ruth won scholarships to Cornell
University where she graduated first among the women in her
class and there she met her future husband, Martin Ginsburg.
They both agreed to pursue careers in the law.
Ruth
entered Harvard Law School one year behind her husband, their
first child still a baby. They shared child care duties and
household chores. In spite of the chilly reception Ruth received
in this class of ’59, Ruth excelled in her studies and
won a spot on the law review. During her second year at Harvard,
Martin was diagnosed with cancer. He underwent surgery and radiation
treatment for a condition the doctors told him very few survived.
Ruth covered his classes as well as her own, copying notes and
typing his third year paper. Martin recovered and was able to
graduate on time.
When
Martin accepted a job with a New York City law firm, Ruth transferred
to Columbia Law School to maintain the family. She made law
review again and graduated tied for first in her class. In spite
of her superior academic achievements, Ruth Ginsburg received
no job offers from New York law firms and was unable to even
obtain an interview for a Supreme Court clerkship. Her status
as “a woman, a Jew, and a mother to boot,” was just
“a bit much” in those days. She learned that scholarly
passion and achievement gained little without the freedom to
be recognized and provided the same employment opportunities
as men.
In
the early 60’s Ginsburg was inspired by reading Simone
de Beauvoir’s, The Second Sex. As her career developed,
she taught at Rutger’s, and she assisted the American Civil
Liberties Union in litigating sex descrimination cases. In l972,
Ginsburg became the first tenured woman law professor at Columbia
Law School. Between ‘72 and ’78 she argued six cases
before the Supreme Court and won five. In 1980 President Jimmy
Carter appointed her to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District
of Columbia. Ginsburg’s reputation continued to grow as
a staunch defender of women’s rights. She believes that
gender-based stereotyping harms not only women, but all of society
because of the corresponding abuses of power.
Ruth
Bader Ginsburg was appointed to the Supreme Court by President
Bill Clinton in l993. He said, her “fine mind, good judgment,
wide experience in the law and in the problems of real people,”
made her “the Thurgood Marshall of gender equality law.”
Passion
is living the life that interests and excites, regardless of
the difficulties. Beauvoir and Ginsburg persevered in living
passionate lives, staying true to their values, and overcoming
the obstacles society placed in their way. Further, their passion
proved to be their purpose, their contribution, and their service
to others.
Find
your focus, your vision, your dream and manifest it in your
life. And don’t be surprised to find you’re also learning
to love yourself, honor your deepest wishes, and fly free of
all past limitations.
