Loss, sadness, grief even. Those feelings engulfed me yesterday morning, spurred by the news my iPhone sent through my earbuds and into my internal receptors. Passing the morning din of Manhattan on my stroll sola toward coffee, bagels, and pharmacy whatnot, I first heard the news of Ted Kennedy’s passing. Even typing that sentence now I surrender to the need to pause, breath deeply, and hold back the emotion welling behind my eyes.
I never met Ted Kennedy, but inexplicably his life touched mine more deeply than I had realized before his death.
In the papers, on the radio, online–everyone has stopped to note his passing and to reflect on his life. The attention of most focuses pointedly on the legacy of Kennedy’s fight for healthcare and on microscopic assessment of his character. Compared to most, I don’t know much about the Kennedys. I came to Massachusetts already an adult, so I didn’t grow up with the Massachusetts family who early and often assumed a custodial role in the Commonwealth. I don’t have anything to offer to the debate on how to remember Kennedy, how to assess the gaffs and failings. Much of his life was public which is why someone like me might have such an intense reaction to his passing and why others have such intense reactions to his past mistakes.
What I know of Ted Kennedy’s character is that he fought. He fought for things I believe in and did it more passionately, more completely, more vigorously, and longer than any public figure. As a young person, I made a choice to dedicate much of my life to fighting for social justice in an unequal world. The problems are numerous, vast, entrenched. The best solutions chip away at the core injustices in our communities, and rarely do we feel that the fight yields us a victory complete. Whether it’s assessed by others as strength of character or defect of character, Ted Kennedy’s willingness to commit the better part of his life to fighting for and serving others so passionately and completely garners my respect, gratitude, and empathy.
