WHY TEDDY IS IMPORTANT TO ME

It would surely surprise my conservative and liberal friends to know the genuine sadness with which I mark the death of Edward “Teddy” Kennedy. As anyone that knows my politics, Teddy Kennedy would be far to the left on any given issue that might float across the notions of the United States Senate or any other less dominant political landscape in this country.

But Teddy marks another conclusion to the youth of many of us from the 60’s. Most of us in the early 60’s were wrapped up in the excitement of John F. Kennedy as an image of our time.

For an Irish Catholic kid, the election of JFK was as equally significant to us as was the election of Barack Obama was to all African-Americans in this country. Teddy was a replacement for Jack. Bobby was a replacement for Jack so for many years, many of us saw Teddy as a convenient Boston-sounding Kennedy figure that placed us back in time when Jack was alive and reminded us of our very early youth and the excitement of those times, prior to Viet Nam, prior to the Beatles and prior to the psychedelic time that ushered us out of optimistic innocent youth and into the details and calamities of our time as the 60’s ended.

I think Teddy was probably a better man as he grew older and the mantel he was given as a young man was well beyond what any of us could appreciate. My admiration for him is because of the burden he bore following Jack’s death, Bobby’s death, his son’s health issues and all the other tragedies that have always followed the Kennedy family since the war when brother Joe was shot from the sky.

What’s most dramatic about the passing of Ted though is the total end of the Kennedy experience. We’ve certainly lived beyond the adoration of the Kennedy’s and nearly all – but not all – of the pain and loss of the assassinations of John and Robert is a distant memory. But Ted’s death makes it all return once again if not for just a short week. At least Ted was able to plan his end. Jack and Bobby were not.

Remove all the politics and Ted would be all fun as is evidence of his friendship with Orin Hatch, John McCain and others. I will always hold the Kennedy family in a special place in my life time memory. It’s part of my personal American experience and my Catholic and Irish heritage. Even the most adamant, conservative advocate should be - if they are not – sad this week for the death of Teddy Kennedy and the death of another part of our rich, rich American and Irish-American heritage.