| I can't tell you I agreed with all of his positions in politics | | | | human being's life a little more palatable. He has taken |
| particularly his stance on Occupied Palestine or the | | | | his place beside the others who dedicated their lives to |
| Middle East because I did not. However although he | | | | making the world just a little better than they found it. |
| once aspired to be president it is obvious he | | | | His was on of the last living vestiges we had to |
| accomplished a lot more as a senator, in fact | | | | connect us all to the Camelot of Kennedy governance |
| compared to other senators he totally raised and | | | | that helped raise us all up and challenged us to be |
| refined the bar. Ted Kennedy was a product of a time | | | | better than we were and understand that our dreams |
| in America that will never exist again when men of the | | | | for a better world are just a prerequisite to fully |
| steel of social duty and public accountability forged | | | | requited reality. |
| themselves in the sometimes hellish kilns of politics, | | | | America is no longer the place it was in many ways it |
| social justice and endless efforts to soften and make | | | | is better because exceptional men were willing to take |
| malleable the selfish false idols of ignorance neglect | | | | up extreme challenges to create what Lyndon |
| waste and abuse. He was the 'go to man' very much | | | | Johnson called "the great society", although they often |
| inside the governmental system for the poor, | | | | had conflicting views about how to get there. Ted |
| disenfranchised, sick, handicapped, aged, overlooked, | | | | Kennedy actually tried to cling to his ideals for humanity |
| and forgotten. Somehow in an outrageously barbaric | | | | under the ever deepening selfish clouds of darkness |
| time of United States and world history which matured | | | | that hang like specters over the United States Senate. |
| both his brothers Jack and Robert Kennedy as well as | | | | I am sure droves of supports and well wishers are |
| the Icons of Truth Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, | | | | lamenting his passing, and many enemies and old foes |
| he pushed on through the valley of death to do the | | | | will show and comment because it is politically correct |
| work of the people. Public service is not an easy job | | | | to do so. However for those that really want to honor |
| especially in Washington D.C., President Obama | | | | his passing don't sing any songs or light any candles no |
| described it as like being on American Idol only | | | | pomp or circumstance of mourning or memorial just |
| everyone is Simon Cowell, yet Ted Kennedy took day | | | | simple make laws that give all Americans healthcare |
| after day, year after year, decade after decade of | | | | that is not at the mercy of the insurance industry. |
| public crucifixion only to face more. Men like him | | | | Universal Health Care is what he wanted so every |
| whether we like them or dislike them love hate or | | | | United States citizen and legal resident can have the |
| despise them have a special gift that few of us have | | | | dignity and the means to be able to fight a |
| or would ever wish to attain, they sacrifice their | | | | catastrophic illness to the very end if need be, just as |
| personal lives and families for the sake of the | | | | he did. A massively debilitating illness can strike any of |
| common good. They are the immigrant documented | | | | us at any time and we all want the option to decide |
| and undocumented workers in the fields of public | | | | how far that fight could go and to have the medical |
| governance welfare and discourse using their mental | | | | and financial means to do it and never ever hear the |
| labors to harvest the crops of social equality that | | | | negative words "preexisting condition" as a reason to |
| spring from the fertile soils of truth and justice, all while | | | | derail that opportunity! |
| being pelted by the poisonous hail of self interest | | | | This is the very short list of things he helped make a |
| lobbyist. | | | | reality:o Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965o |
| What made him stand out was his willingness to take | | | | National Cancer Act of 1971o Federal Election |
| up the mantle of public service in the worst of times | | | | Campaign Act Amendments of 1974o COBRA Act of |
| for the best of times, when a man's convictions to | | | | 1985o Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986o |
| social justice and equality often costs the supreme | | | | Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990o Ryan White |
| price of his own mortal life. We all know he was a | | | | AIDS Care Acto Civil Rights Act of 1991o Health |
| child of privilege born with the golden spoon in his | | | | Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996o |
| mouth, therefore able to seek a life of easy idle | | | | Mental Health Parity Acto State Children's Health |
| pleasures and a path of least resistance. No one | | | | Insurance Programo No Child Left Behind Acto |
| would have faulted him if had chosen the same road | | | | Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act |
| as most of the rich do, that leads to self satisfaction | | | | His tenure was not perfect and there were and are |
| and no notable achievements especially since his | | | | many that take issue with his politics but at least he did |
| family had given more than any family could be | | | | something and that is more than most of us will ever |
| expected to give. Instead he chose the less traveled | | | | do, because by in large we are only armchair |
| road and literally broke his back in the effort to see the | | | | politicians. It is time for all of us to finally pick up the |
| trip to the very end. What is sad is the collective | | | | gauntlet that has been laid down only by the passing |
| bombardment of praise, complements and | | | | of these great men. A "Militant" is a person that knows |
| condolences that will flood the media issued by those | | | | what he/she wants, so take a page from his book and |
| that most fervently opposed to the righteous struggles | | | | be a creature of your own positive convictions! |
| he endured in life, all to make the plight of the average | | | | |