Found my old scrap book!! Click on a picture and it'll bring it in closer. Wonder how I turn them around so ya start with the Kennedy assassination clipping? Anyway, remembered I had these clippings when I edited the following thot's, spurred on by the loss of Senator Teddy Kennedy.
Where was I when I heard of Edward M. Kennedy's death? On my way home after picking up my grandson to care for him at Ron's house. I listen to a local religious radio station when driving and the announcement of his passing was part of the news break. Unlike the fairly recent deaths of Farrah Faucett and Micheal Jackson, this announcement hit me hard and by the time I got Corban settled into a play routine, and CNN pulled up on the TV, I was in tears. No, I did not PERSONALLY know Senator Kennedy but a big part of my political passions were spurred by the Kennedy legacy. So much so, that I named my son after President John F. Kennedy. If I would have had another son, Edward...or better, Teddy may have been a consideration.
Nebraska is a Republican state and Ogallala, my home town, is a staunch republican city. So mourning the death of a Democrat is likely a lone experience. In fact, when I did express my sorrow to someone close to me, I was slapped quiet with thier words of animosity and near glee that Senator Edward Kennedy was finally out of the picture. Guess I should have known better. It's not like this hasn't been a common reaction any time I try to give my opinion on political issues with my skewed Democratic beliefs. In fact, with all the pressure to not believe as I do, I'm surprised that I remain Democrat in such a controlling republican environment.
I was young when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Grandma and I watched his funeral on TV. I remember feelings of sadness and confusion. I remember hearing the adults claim he was murdered for his beliefs, for his support of black folks (only many of them weren't using the term black), and his lack of support of the Vietnam War. I remember hearing them claim he may have even been killed by Vice President Ford. I remember being appalled at the way everyone was talking.
I often wonder why I didn't just take on thier attitudes and learn to be like them. Isn't that what young minds do? Absorb the beliefs and attitudes of those they grow up with? Maybe it was the fact, I didn't trust any of those speaking. Most of them had hurt me in some way, so what they thought seemed to be part of the nightmare. Maybe it was Grandma and Mom, both were very soft in thier response to President Kennedy's death, who influenced me, but I began to crave information on the Kennedy's and went on a reading frenzy.
What I learned about them fascinated me and a respect for them grew and was never squelched even as I uncovered unsavory things about them. In fact, the scandals seemed to humanized them to me and thier causes matched my own. One thing I learned fast, growing up poor, money talks. I knew that if the poor were going to have a voice, it would have to come from someone who understood what was at stake. I believed that voice came from the Kennedy's.
I was in high school when my interest in politics bloomed and though I could not vote, I campaigned for Bobby Kennedy. How exciting to be there when the campaign train stopped in Ogallala, NE and Bobby Kennedy spoke from the back of the Caboose. What a thrill to see him, to nearly touch him, and I could just feel his energy. I was so proud of my family, as I had convinced them to vote democrat! My republican family was going to vote for Bobby Kennedy! We were going to stop sending our boys to war to be slaughtered!
I had come home from school one day and was tinkering around the house when my step-dad, Blaine, came bouncing in and seeing me, spit out:
"So, your old buddy Bobby Kennedy got shot today!"
"What!" I exclaimed in shock and disbelief.
I threw on the TV and when what Blaine had said was confirmed and worse, Bobby Kennedy was dead, I collapsed in sobs. The news of upper classmates, who had been killed by the war, hadn't hit me as hard as the news of Senator Robert Kennedy's assassination did. I wonder what I must have looked like to Blaine. As I sat on the floor, sobbing into my hands, he stood over me laughing.....laughing at my sorrow and dismay. I think I began my staunch support of the Hippie Movement on that day.
Over the years since, I've continued to read on the Kennedy's and watch as Senator Edward Kennedy rose and fell in politics. Over the years, and especially, as he took on the Health Care Cause, I have been disappointed in Teddy's detours in scandal. I have been equally hopeful when with each scandal, he would humbly rally with renewed commitment and determination against the corruption that tried to silence his voice by using each scandal to keep the focus off that very corruption that is bringing our country to its knees in these last few years.
I deeply supported his outrage that quality health care should be a right and not a priviledge for the rich. I have too many personal experiences and family stories of how our present system has failed. Senator Kennedy was our champion for this to change and now his voice is forever quiet. He wasn't assassinated and he never quit. HIS quality health care, that he wanted us all to have, couldn't conquer his brain tumor and our champion's voice was silenced. Who will champion this cause now? Surely, there is hope because who would have thought we'd ever elect a Black President? Senator Edward Kennedy knew we would!
It's been a over a month since Senator Edward Kennedy died. Like his President brother, I watched his funeral on TV. I learned how dear he was to all who knew him, even those who viewed him as an enemy. I heard stories that I could never have picked up in all my reading. He was a good man, who had some troubled times, but tried to overcome and thought about quitting but never did. He loved to sing, often not in tune, and was loved by his Kennedy clan as well as by his co-workers, as well as by a perfect stranger like me.
Just an after note: I began this post, shortly after learning of Teddy's death and finally finished my thot's on this day of September 29, 2009.
