The Lion of the Senate

26 August 2009

 by Dr. Pied Piper

Senator Edward Moore Kennedy died last night after a long battle with brain cancer.

Compared to his brothers, the news of his death seems pretty tame. Among his brothers, he’s the only one who died a natural death, although he did come close several times in the most unnatural manner. And with this, we close the book - the final, extended chapter – of Camelot.

They called him “The Lion of the Senate”; for us, he was simply “Teddy” our senator. The first senator I ever voted for. To say he was beloved in Massachusetts is to undermine the degree of affection its people held him with, and the depth of grief and loss they now experience. For my generation, Senator Kennedy was the only constant senator we ever had (although I don’t live in MA anymore). His death is personal.

So for today, PepSi University dares to venture outside the imaginary world of San Antonio into the real world of real pains and real triumphs, of real deaths and real grief, of real affection and real gratitude.

If you’ve never been a resident of the great state of Massachusetts, you probably would not understand why his death saddens me so much. But you have to understand that the Kennedys are revered in their home state; they rank pretty high up there, along with the Red Sox, the Patriots & Celtics, clam chowdah, and the Catholic Church. We cried when John Jr. died, we cringed when Michael was accused by his baby sitter, we waited with bated breath when William was going through his rape trial… For those of us who never knew them, Jack was still one of the greatest presidents ever and his assassination is as real to us as it was 46 years ago, and Bobby was the greatest president that never was and the simple white cross adorning his grave speaks to the humility of the man. And Ted…Ted was our advocate and knight in beaten armor.

Yes, we unashamedly and unapologetically revered the Kennedys.

Senator Kennedy was not a saint – he was the foremost target of right-wing attacks, humorous or otherwise. The mention of his name brought out the rabid nature of his critics. His own personal history rightly justifies them: of Mary Jo Kopechne and Chappaquiddick, of bar hopping in Florida with his nephew William Kennedy Smith, of drinking and the (assumed and stereotypical) Irish predisposition to alcohol, of his liberal politics and its humongous cost…

But his life was also the very story of man: our fall from grace and own search for salvation. If there’s some sort of bookeeping when we die, I can only hope that my good deeds will outweigh the bad. I hope I will be remembered, if I will be remembered at all, as a good person, in spite and because of myself.

So in the celestial accounting system, I would like to believe that Senator Kennedy closed the books with a positive balance. And his personal history might have rightly justified his critics, but it should have also silenced them into admiration - because his accomplishments put us all to shame, his eloquence leaves us all in awe, his affection and good intentions have put us all in a better world.

I am not going to do a laundry list of his legacy; you can go to http://www.boston.com/, http://www.cnn.com/, http://www.nytimes.com/, or http://www.washingtonpost.com/ for that. Just know that his legislations, although he was born affluent and privileged, focused on the poor and the marginalized members of society.

For every black person enjoying the Boston Common at this moment, for every senior citizen waiting for their meal on wheels, for every child who dreams of a college education, for every teenager who survives on minimum wage, for every family member who needs to stay home to take care of the sick, for every member of the US military wondering what they fuck they're doing in Iraq… For our generation which has been raised in material abundance and selfish aspirations and Reaganistic disdain for the poor, we thank him for showing us the best in politics and the salvation in our sinful humanity.

He said of his brother Bobby: “My brother need not be idealized or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life, but be remembered simply as a good and decent man who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it.’’

It’s our turn now to say the same of him: he was a good and decent man, in spite and because of himself.

Thank you, Senator Kennedy.