Senator Edward “Ted” Kennedy died just before midnight this past Tuesday of the brain cancer he had been fighting for over a year.
He was a tireless crusader for those causes he believed in, including health care reform, gun control, and equal rights. His presence on the Senate floor was a constant reassurance for many that the Kennedy legacy still held; even for those whose political aims opposed his. He was also the second-most senior Senator, behind Robert Byrd, and has left a large, notable absence to be filled.
It is likely that America will never see another dynasty like the one the Kennedy family left behind, which included President John F. Kennedy and State Attorney and later US Senator Robert “Bobby” Kennedy, both of whose deaths Ted had to endure. And that might be, for me, the most pertinent point: with Ted Kennedy’s death, we’ve lost our generational link to what felt like a golden period in American politics.
Some of you may have children who will be learning about John and Robert in school, but sometimes, in the press of getting a large volume of information into the minds of their students, a school might miss impressing the significant emotional impact the Kennedys had on America. If you or other family members are old enough to remember living through that time, it would be worth your while to talk to your children about how it felt to have the Kennedys as active parts of your lives. Their legacies are unmatched on the political and cultural landscape, and can be a good way to help your kids understand that it is possible for a single person to directly affect the outlook of a nation.
It seems clear that while Ted Kennedy may have considered dropping out of politics after Robert’s death, he remained out of both a love for his country and the desire to maintain the family’s name; what he called “picking up a fallen standard”. Make no mistake about it: family is vitally important. The idea of lineage is one that perhaps ought to be taken more seriously — as seriously as Ted Kennedy took it.
At the end of your life, you can discard all of your relationships and connections, but your biological history will always be a part of you. It’s likely that you may never know yourself as well as your father knows you, or your mother, or your brother or sister, as long as you keep that thread alive. And while it’s true that you can pick your friends, but not your family, sometimes it’s the relationship that you don’t get to choose that has the greater effect on your life. As I always think when I read about a notable person’s death, this is the perfect time to reconnect with family members that you haven’t spoken with in a while. Time to bury some hatchets, let water flow under that bridge. Someone knew who you were before you became the person you are now, and that’s important. Reconcile with your family while there’s still time.
