Remembering Ted...
I had come to home to Boston Tuesday night. It was late, I was exhausted, my sister, in her own fog of a long day, had taken a wrong turn and we got trapped amidst the summer construction on the way back to my mother's house. I remember finally getting to bed and was not eager to have to wake up early the next morning - workmen were coming to work on the kitchen the next morning. There was just an odd pall of crankiness and something just not being quite right over that day.The next morning, I come down for breakfast. The TV is on and my mother says "Did you hear about Ted Kennedy?" It was 8am and the tributes had already begun.
It didn't seem possible.
Really? Ted Kennedy? Dead? Gone? Silenced?
Most people figured that when he didn;t make Eunice's funeral, that that was a bad sign. I remember thinking, after hearing that he was asking the governor of Massachusetts to change the law about being able to appoint a temporary replacement before a special election should anything happen, that that was the bad sign. Still, I think a good many of us figured that he still had at least a few good months if not years in him before he left the Senate floor.
There are those who can't get beyond Chappaquiddick or the case of his nephew William Smith...but like with many a flawed public persona, we have to remember that there were many good deeds done as well:
*WIC
*CityYear
*the ability to vote at 18
*a continual fight for civil rights
*despite being a staunch Catholic, he fought for a woman's right to choose
*while against both Iraq wars, he fought for proper body armor for soldiers and as well as post-war care.
*he started fighting for health care as early as 1964...
*he helped immigrant families
Channel 5 in Boston showed a scrolling list of his legislation and even as they had to finish a particular broadcast, the list would keep rolling as there was not enough time to show all of the work he had done.
To whom much is given, much is required is the family motto, and he lived that motto whole-heartedly.
It is a sad loss to not only the Kennedy family, but to the commonwealth of Massacuhsetts and this country that this voice has been silenced. We can only hope that someone, whether a member of the family or not, takes up the torch and continues the dream.
Peace --Alex
posted by funkweee @ 6:31 PM
1 Comments:
No one outside of Massachusetts could understand my shedding a tear for Senator Ted. Growing up an Irish Catholic on one side and an Italian Catholic on the other, I saw so many pictures of the Kennedys in my families homes that I thought we were related. The Kennedy family certainly had their flaws, but most of us do. But most of us cannot say we've done nearly as much good as they have done in their lifetimes. Perhaps Ted's biggest lesson was to never give-up. He certainly did not.
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