The happiest time of my professional life to date was my tenure on the Supreme Court of Georgia. There are many reasons for this, but the most important among them lay not in the court’s many traditions and history, and still less in the status and meager salary that comes with being a justice. Rather, I was overjoyed by the companionship I found among my colleagues, arrayed as they were in all their robust diversity.
Before arriving at those hallowed halls, for instance, I didn’t really understand most of the men who were there, with their love of hunting, fishing, golf, Georgia football, God and country. And I’m sure most of them looked at me askance, a 36-year-old black woman judge with a love for vintage clothes, in-line skating, old movies, children, God and country. But during my years on the court I learned what is now obvious: diversity makes our lives richer, while sameness stifles growth.
