As he told us, “(I)individual faults and frailties are no excuse to give in” and no exemption from the common obligation to give of ourselves.” Indeed, Ted was the “Happy Warrior” that the poet William Wordsworth spoke of when he wrote:Īs more exposed to suffering and distress No one would have blamed him for that.īut that was not Ted Kennedy. And it would have been easy for Teddy to let himself become bitter and hardened to surrender to self-pity and regret to retreat from public life and live out his years in peaceful quiet. ![]() ![]() It is a string of events that would have broken a lesser man. He narrowly survived a plane crash, watched two children struggle with cancer, buried three nephews, and experienced personal failings and setbacks in the most public way possible. He said goodbye to his beloved sister, Eunice, in the final days of his own life. He saw two more taken violently from the country that loved them. He lost two siblings by the age of sixteen. This spirit of resilience and good humor would see Ted Kennedy through more pain and tragedy than most of us will ever know. When a photographer asked the newly elected Bobby to step back at a press conference because he was casting a shadow on his younger brother, Teddy quipped, “It’ll be the same in Washington.” When they tossed him off a boat because he didn’t know what a jib was, six-year-old Teddy got back in and learned to sail. He was the sunny, joyful child, who bore the brunt of his brothers’ teasing, but learned quickly how to brush it off. Ted Kennedy was the baby of the family who became its patriarch the restless dreamer who became its rock. Uncle Teddy, or as he was often known to his younger nieces and nephews, “The Grand Fromage,” or “The Big Cheese.” I, like so many others in the city where he worked for nearly half a century, knew him as a colleague, a mentor, and above all, a friend. Senate – a man whose name graces nearly one thousand laws, and who penned more than three hundred himself.īut those of us who loved him, and ache with his passing, know Ted Kennedy by the other titles he held: Father. The world will long remember their son Edward as the heir to a weighty legacy a champion for those who had none the soul of the Democratic Party and the lion of the U.S. ![]() Today we say goodbye to the youngest child of Rose and Joseph Kennedy. Kennedy, Kara, Edward, Patrick, Curran, Caroline, members of the Kennedy family, distinguished guests, and fellow citizens: Edward (Ted) Kennedy’s Eulogy Presented by President Barack Obama
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |