I don't claim to know what happens when a person dies. In the grand scheme of things, whatever does happen, lasts forever. There is not much any human being can do to interfere with something so mind-boggling as infinity or eternity. Life, on the other hand, is all too temporary. Unfortunately, many of us waste the ephemeral experience that is life. Edie Windsor, however, didn't do that.

Most people either live their lives solely for themselves or solely for others. Edie Windsor didn't do that. She fought for love that she knew she deserved. Even after attaining that love, she kept fighting because she knew that everyone else deserved it too. She fought for what was rightfully hers and kept on fighting until everyone else got what was rightfully theirs. Her toughness gave many people strength, myself included.

I was sixteen the day her appeal to the United States Government was ruled in her favor for same-sex marriage. She deserved every bit as much dignity, validation, and respect for her marriage with her late spouse, Thea Spyer, as every opposite-sex married couple did. No, it may not have been the one that officially told me, "Yes, you can finally get married to the man you fall in love with," but it's every bit as important. It may not have given me the right, but it told me that I deserved to be able to do so.

As dedicated and bold as she was, she was just as intelligent. While many will remember her for her activism, she was also a mathematician and programmer, She received a Master's Degree in math from NYU and eventually becoming the highest level technician at IBM. For as dedicated, bold, and intelligent as she was, she was also a person. She felt human things like joy, anger, and sorrow. She made mistakes, improved, and found more mistakes to learn from. She was a human being.

Her humanity is what makes her so astounding. Our humanity is usually something that holds us back. She taught an entire generation of LGBTQ+ youth and adults that our humanity is not to be feared or something we should let others steal from us. It is something to be loved and cherished, for that's what makes us human, what makes us weak, and is the very thing that gives us the power to make a difference.

She served as an example and made one hell of a difference.