HOME | FUNNY ARTICLES | TOP NEWS REPORTS | SUBMIT
|
Sept. 7, 2009 The Kennedy family have long been considered American royalty. And as is often the case with royalty, the public's insatiable appetite often focuses more on their wealth, their influence and the latest gossip about their private lives, often to the exclusion of what they themselves cared about the most. Public service. Giving back was a constant theme that ran through everything they were taught, everything they did with their lives. Public service was an important part of who they were, and what their parents expected of them. It was non-negotiable. From a very early age the Kennedy children clearly understood that to those whom much is given, much is expected was more than just a phrase. It would become their way of life, their calling. In the days since Teddy died there have been a number of great profiles about the way he lived his life, the choices he made, the decisions he came to, the lessons he learned in good times and bad. The HBO documentary Teddy In His Own Words was insightful and compelling, a fair and honest look at who he was and what he stood for. I didn't know much about Ted Kennedy until the night I heard him speaking at the DNC, the night he made me cry like a little school girl! I hadn't cried that much since the day I saw David Cassidy when I was 12. But of course he didn't make me cry because we shared the same vision for a better world! Hello! No, sitting in front of the TV, watching as Ted addressed the issues of the day, the importance of change, of a new direction. That's what made me cry and it made me cry because in his words I recognised myself, I felt the same way he did about the same issues. Affordable health care for all. Access to a good education, to clean safe housing, to safe streets and racial equality, to equal pay for equal work, to the protection of those unable to protect themselves. A powerful bond is created in the understanding that comes with a unified vision. Hope feels possible when you hear someone speaking so passionately about the very things you yourself care about. His life has been illuminated by his death and with it I have come to a much greater understanding of just who Teddy Kennedy was, what his life meant to him and to the public he served. It wasn't until I heard him speaking at the Democratic National Convention last year, in those heady days leading up to the Obama victory. that I first became aware of how powerful he was, how dedicated and determined he was to address the issues that matter the most to American's in a way that was sincere, direct and hopeful. Always hopeful. Always sincere. Ted Kennedy would be the first one to agree his life had been flawed. He was, after all, just a man. And he said as much in a letter to Pope Benedict which President Obama personally delivered when he and his family visited the Vatican in July. Teddy was weak, battling cancer and asking the Pope to remember him in his prayer's, which of course he did. Here is part of the letter he wrote to Pope Benedict... "I know that I have been an imperfect human being, but with the help of my faith I have tried to right my path. I've worked to welcome the immigrant, to fight discrimination and expand access to affordable health care and education. I have opposed the death penalty and fought to end war". Is that a trip? What could be more powerful than a man who is dying, who is face to face with his own mortality yet is able to look beyond it in his understanding of the only things that really matter in our lives. Teddy wasn't standing at heaven's gate with a smug look on his face and a hundred dollar bill in his hand confirming his reservation! There was still so much work to be done and that is exactly what he understood. To leave the world a better place than it was when he found it he has certainly done, but that wasn't good enough for Teddy Kennedy, and that says a lot about the man and his life.
He made us all better than we were and we will certainly miss him.
|
||||||
|
|
|||||||
|
