My Friend's Remembrances of Ted Kennedy

From Tranquilla II on The Back of Eddy Creek on Lake Barkley --- Senator Edward "Ted" Kennedy (D-MA) was finally laid to rest this weekend. He joins his brothers John F. Kennedy and Robert Kennedy both of whom I had some fondness for actually. The good Senator Ted I were never quite able to warm up to one another and I suspect there are others who had an equally difficult time. I actually met the Senator at an event I was honored to be at on September 11, 2002 at the Kennedy Center. He looked as many of us do as if he had lived a hard life. He was polite and gracious.

Despite his perseverance to do good for the "common man," I just found it incredibly difficult to believe he could truly relate to the "common man" but then many did relate to him especially his union followers and those who wanted the legacy and myth of the Kennedys' to live forever.

Senator Kennedy had a difficult life. He lost brothers and a sister and his first wife lost at least two children due to miscarriages. I know how difficult it is to lose those you love early in life and those you want to love that were never meant to be.

He was I am sure hounded by his Father to continue the myth and legacy of the family at all costs through his public service. I quite suspect it would not have been a life even as privileged as it was that most of us could have probably dealt with for long.

I have hoped for a long time that the Senator would lay to rest all the speculations about what really happened to Mary Jo Kopechne that fateful night at Martha's Vineyard. I at least hope that he made peace with his God, her family and himself over all this.

Just as many of us were saddened by the death of the great Conservative President Ronald Reagan this was a weekend of mourning for those who revered the great Liberal/Progressive Senator Ted Kennedy.

My friend and colleague, who also at one time was a student of mine as well when I taught at St. Mary's High School in Paducah, reminded me today of the need to stop and reflect on those whom we might hold in less than honorable esteem because of our politics.

I appreciate her comments and her remembrances. She did a fine job of articulating that which I could not bring myself to do adequately. Her comments and thoughts come from one who is definitely not a liberal or a fan of the Senator rather they are thoughtfully delivered comments from one human being about another; from one who can see the need for compassion and I am not at all surprised that I agree with her. I thank her for doing that which I could not do nearly as well.

So from my friend Lynn Beckman in St. Louis ...

I don't consider myself a liberal (far from it!), and I disagreed with many of Ted Kennedy's aims in the Senate. But I have to admire a man who steadfastly, doggedly pursues achievement of what he firmly believes to be good and fair, on behalf of those less fortunate.... a man who perseveres in the strength of his conviction in what he believes to be fundamental human rights. This is not to heap accolades upon him in death.

What he said in his eulogy for his brother Bobby, also applies to him: "... need not be idealized in death beyond what he was in life."

Later in life, Kennedy made a public speech in which he acknowledged his faults, flaws, and personal failings, and accepted personal responsibility for them. (It has been remarked that perhaps his remarriage had something to do with that turn-around).

It appears that from that point forward, he did better in his life.... perhaps particularly his private life... the part that occurs when TV cameras are absent. Good news rarely makes the press, especially the main stream media.

There are privileges and burdens of carrying the legacy of a famous name and living a life of public service; an example of the latter is that the world was instantly informed of his every mistake and misstep.

The world was also immediately aware of the crushing personal tragedies that filled his life, beyond what most of us would ever suffer or could begin to comprehend, the most recent loss occurring just a few weeks ago, with the death of his sister, Eunice; even in these most intimate occasions of personal pain and grief, privacy was a luxury he could not buy.

I am glad I do not have to attempt to live my life under such an unflinching microscope.

I watched as much of the TV coverage of his services as possible, and learned things that I didn't know about the man. I was touched by the heartfelt remembrances of him as a loving father and grandfather. I noted the stories and photos of him attending the funerals of as many fallen servicemen from Massachusetts as he could.

I heard about him keeping a weekly standing appointment with children attending school in a rough neighborhood, to read to and with them.

In the end, God alone will judge Ted Kennedy on the events of what, by any measure, can only be called a remarkable life. - Lynn Beckman