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The Lion and the Princess
I learned this morning of the death of Ted Kennedy. He was 77 years old. That’s not very old from my perspective, but we don’t ever know how much time we‘ll have here. As long as I can remember, Kennedy was a senator. One tied to a storied Irish Catholic family in the Northeast. One whose name kept appearing and reappearing on legislation that urged America to live up to its promise.
There is much that will be made in the coming days of his legislative contributions, his family, his brothers, his life, and because this is the United States, his failures, foibles and disappointments. He was known as, the “Lion of the Senate.” More important to me was who the Lion of the Senate championed.
My mind works in strange ways sometimes and today is no exception. As I consider Ted Kennedy’s life and service, my mind cannot help but think of another whose loss I inexplicably deeply felt. I was sprawled out on my back bedroom floor, awake in the middle of the night for some unknown reason, when I heard a BBC announcer, his voice trembling, say that the Princess of Wales had been rushed to hospital after a terrible automobile crash in a Paris tunnel. A short time later, her death announcement followed. I was angry for years. As I write this, it is apparent that I’m still angry…and deeply saddened.
I didn’t much care for how Diana had been treated by her prince and the royal family she had married into. I didn’t know all the salacious details of her marriage and life that would pour out in the years after her death. I only knew that she was finally free, seeming to enjoy her life, and deeply dedicated to making the most of her position to advance humanitarian causes for the less fortunate. This last item, in my mind, made her a superstar. She didn’t have to do these things. She certainly didn’t have to share her humanity as generously as she did, but there she was tromping through the mud for landmine awareness, grasping armfuls of African infants to promote AIDS research and prevention, clasping hands with girls of color in London to remind them of how valuable they are to both themselves and the world. All of this was cut short with her passing. Oh, how I had looked forward to seeing what would come next.
Ted Kennedy had his time—not long enough, but he was a United States senator for as many years as the Princess of Wales was alive. He had opportunities to serve his nation in ways she could not dream of. I see the former senator as a draft horse, sometimes dressed up and in prime show condition, other times legs caked with mud or frozen snow, but always in harness with those broad shoulders straining against the collar. Kennedy pulled his weight and half of everyone else’s. As Joe Biden said, “… he restored my sense of idealism and my faith in possibilities of what this country could do.” He reminded us of what it meant to work in good faith, to be civic minded, and to strive to make this country better for all it’s citizens.
What is it in a person’s character that makes that indescribable, but instantly recognizable difference? Where does that dogged determination coupled with jovial good will emanate from? Why is it in such short supply today? When Orrin Hatch and John McCain opined that health care reform would have been much easier to reach had Ted Kennedy been in charge of shepherding the process along, I wanted to kick them both. How disingenuous. They have both fought Kennedy tooth and nail in almost everything he tried to do. The kind of opportunism they displayed in invoking his name, as his death was imminent, stands in stark contrast to the qualities the Lion of the Senate brought to his battles in the chamber.
Biden recalled Kennedy’s unique qualities when he said, "He was never defeatist. He never was petty. Never was petty. He was never small. And in the process of his doing, he made everybody he worked with bigger; both his adversaries as well as his allies." Whether these qualities were forged in the litany of tragedies throughout his life or the unique combination of nature and nurture that gave him such a big heart, Ted Kennedy was a truly remarkable man. His colleagues in the senate and the rest of us in this, his nation, could not have had a better role model for civility, dedication, perseverance, and good humor than Ted Kennedy.
A year, to the day before his death, Ted made an appearance at the Democratic National Convention, where his mere presence brought the audience to their feet. Shuffling to the podium in an auditorium that looked like the America our ideals profess, the Lion roared, “This November," he declared, "the torch will be passed again to a new generation of Americans. So, with Barack Obama and for you and for me, our country will be committed to his cause. The work begins anew. The hope rises again. And the dream lives on." Indeed, it does, but only if we can find Kennedy’s courage to make it so.
There is much that will be made in the coming days of his legislative contributions, his family, his brothers, his life, and because this is the United States, his failures, foibles and disappointments. He was known as, the “Lion of the Senate.” More important to me was who the Lion of the Senate championed.
My mind works in strange ways sometimes and today is no exception. As I consider Ted Kennedy’s life and service, my mind cannot help but think of another whose loss I inexplicably deeply felt. I was sprawled out on my back bedroom floor, awake in the middle of the night for some unknown reason, when I heard a BBC announcer, his voice trembling, say that the Princess of Wales had been rushed to hospital after a terrible automobile crash in a Paris tunnel. A short time later, her death announcement followed. I was angry for years. As I write this, it is apparent that I’m still angry…and deeply saddened.
I didn’t much care for how Diana had been treated by her prince and the royal family she had married into. I didn’t know all the salacious details of her marriage and life that would pour out in the years after her death. I only knew that she was finally free, seeming to enjoy her life, and deeply dedicated to making the most of her position to advance humanitarian causes for the less fortunate. This last item, in my mind, made her a superstar. She didn’t have to do these things. She certainly didn’t have to share her humanity as generously as she did, but there she was tromping through the mud for landmine awareness, grasping armfuls of African infants to promote AIDS research and prevention, clasping hands with girls of color in London to remind them of how valuable they are to both themselves and the world. All of this was cut short with her passing. Oh, how I had looked forward to seeing what would come next.
Ted Kennedy had his time—not long enough, but he was a United States senator for as many years as the Princess of Wales was alive. He had opportunities to serve his nation in ways she could not dream of. I see the former senator as a draft horse, sometimes dressed up and in prime show condition, other times legs caked with mud or frozen snow, but always in harness with those broad shoulders straining against the collar. Kennedy pulled his weight and half of everyone else’s. As Joe Biden said, “… he restored my sense of idealism and my faith in possibilities of what this country could do.” He reminded us of what it meant to work in good faith, to be civic minded, and to strive to make this country better for all it’s citizens.
What is it in a person’s character that makes that indescribable, but instantly recognizable difference? Where does that dogged determination coupled with jovial good will emanate from? Why is it in such short supply today? When Orrin Hatch and John McCain opined that health care reform would have been much easier to reach had Ted Kennedy been in charge of shepherding the process along, I wanted to kick them both. How disingenuous. They have both fought Kennedy tooth and nail in almost everything he tried to do. The kind of opportunism they displayed in invoking his name, as his death was imminent, stands in stark contrast to the qualities the Lion of the Senate brought to his battles in the chamber.
Biden recalled Kennedy’s unique qualities when he said, "He was never defeatist. He never was petty. Never was petty. He was never small. And in the process of his doing, he made everybody he worked with bigger; both his adversaries as well as his allies." Whether these qualities were forged in the litany of tragedies throughout his life or the unique combination of nature and nurture that gave him such a big heart, Ted Kennedy was a truly remarkable man. His colleagues in the senate and the rest of us in this, his nation, could not have had a better role model for civility, dedication, perseverance, and good humor than Ted Kennedy.
A year, to the day before his death, Ted made an appearance at the Democratic National Convention, where his mere presence brought the audience to their feet. Shuffling to the podium in an auditorium that looked like the America our ideals profess, the Lion roared, “This November," he declared, "the torch will be passed again to a new generation of Americans. So, with Barack Obama and for you and for me, our country will be committed to his cause. The work begins anew. The hope rises again. And the dream lives on." Indeed, it does, but only if we can find Kennedy’s courage to make it so.
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Comment
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Comment by Vernon Windsor on September 3, 2009 at 3:52pm
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Two more stories...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtrNEtcEzRM&feature=PlayList&p=Ebhf2IaH5LM
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More revisionist history...Rachel pulls back the curtain.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#32590315
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Here is John McCain "explaining" and Keith Olbermann "clarifying."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/22887392#32589584
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Quinn, my purpose in writing the blog was not to compare Princess Diana to Edward Kennedy (it's not a competition), but rather to point out that either of these people wouldn't have had to give a toss about those less fortunate than themselves, and yet both still chose to champion those same people. I feel that is commendable. You are entitled to think whatever you want about John McCain, but the fact that McCain, Kennedy, and Hatch were all friends, in no way negates the repeated obstacles that both Hatch and McCain used to block Kennedy's legislative priorities. Kennedy was friends with virtually everyone in the senate. That's the kind of person he was. As for "fairness," since when are blogs fair? This is just a remembrance...my remembrance.
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Comment by Kittycat on August 26, 2009 at 9:17pm
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I'm sad and filled with so many memories. Good ones and bad ones. Just sad.
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Comment by ZenDog on August 26, 2009 at 4:54pm
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In my mind the whole thing kinda makes the President'a vacation look a whole lot like something else all of a sudden.
It makes me feel very sad. In some strange way it's really difficult to say who gets the greatest portion of my sympathies . . . the American people? The Kennedy's themselves? Or the President who it seems will never get a day off . . .
Hell of a way to spend your vacation - waiting . . . .
Well. I do. I am. I am very saddened by this news.
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Comment by Alendar on August 26, 2009 at 4:33pm
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"The dream lives on" and on and on... Maybe in some distant future we may consider the debt paid in full. Faaaaar far in the future.
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Comment by Quinn on August 26, 2009 at 2:48pm
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With all due respect Vernon…Princess Diana couldn’t hold a candle to Senator Kennedy.
And, I don’t care for Mr. McCain’s politics, but I think it unfair to criticize him concerning his thoughts and feelings about Mr. Kennedy. John McCain was a supporter of Ted Kennedy; he often complimented him as a Senator and as a person. He worked with him more often that against him.
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