My family and I saw an amazing thing a few days ago.
We were driving on a local freeway in a rainstorm. And suddenly there were all these cars pulled
over on the shoulder—everywhere, both sides of the road and also on overpasses.
The last time I’d seen something like that was when I was
in San Francisco for the famous Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989, the one that
stopped the World Series. That day I was driving home in the evening commute
and suddenly everyone was pulled over and looking at their tires, because it
felt as though you’d just blown all four of them.
In this case, we figured out what it was. Ted Kennedy’s funeral processional.
There were people holding up signs as suddenly this
police caravan zoomed by. And it hit me
that, as a non-native, I still couldn’t understand the connection this man had
made with a state that had re-elected him to 47 years in the Senate.
I have no real comment at all on Kennedy’s politics. Just this morning, I read a
fascinating piece in the New York Times
from one of their conservative columnists, Ross Douthat, about the substantial
difference between Kennedy’s brand of liberalism with that of his sister,
Eunice, who founded the Special Olympics and died herself only 13 days before
Ted, only to be overshadowed by him yet again.
Douthat vividly writes about Eunice’s staunch opposition to abortion as
a Catholic, as a liberal, and as someone who founded the Special Olympics, and
how that was the mainstream Democratic position until about 1970. Anyway, all to say, I found the article to be
a gripper. (On this tangent, if you’re
interested in politics, this morning’s Times
editorial page is a feast. Check out Paul Krugman’s piece, provocatively
headlined “Missing
Richard Nixon.”) But I also have thought a lot about Ted Kennedy’s life in
ways that make me think about issues this blog addresses.
And, just to say, if you’re someone who listens to my
sermons, either live or via the web, this will come up this upcoming Sunday, so
feel free to take a mental Bahamas trip during that section.
Earlier this year our local newspaper did a series on Ted
Kennedy’s life and legacy, both anticipating his death and plugging the book
they’d just released on him. I didn’t
read all of it. The thing was really long.
But I did read a lot of it,
thinking, heck, here’s my chance to learn about this guy who’s so big here but
who I feel I still know relatively little about. And one part of his story really stuck with
me.
Beyond the sensationalist parts—beyond Chappaquiddick,
beyond what the obituaries I read called his “large flaws,” beyond his politics
which drew big fans and big opponents—was this really interesting section on
how he’d never really wanted to run for President, but felt he was supposed to
because of his family legacy.
And how, after he didn’t win the 1980 presidential
nomination, he decided, heck, what do you know?, he’d just be a Senator. Evidently to really be a Senator
for the long haul mostly required working behind the scenes. It required taking
lots of partial victories and working on small details, most of which would
never be seen or known by anyone who wasn’t involved, which wouldn’t get
anybody any glory, unlike being President.
There were a number of quotes in the Globe’s story from Republicans
who described Kennedy as the most effective Senator at actually
legislating—whether for good or ill, I’ll leave to your judgment. One Republican called him far and away the
most effective Senator, saying that that wasn’t really in question.
The article described how Kennedy counseled John Kerry,
after Kerry lost the Presidency in that razor-close vote in 2004. Evidently the only thing Kerry ever really
wanted was to be President—being a Senator was only valuable for its role in
setting him up for the presidency. But after he lost the presidency, Kennedy
evidently encouraged him to take actual pleasure in being an effective Senator, that
you could do a lot of good that way. And,
after about three years of licking his wounds, Kerry took him up on it, and,
according to the article, is now regarded as a major, helpful Senator, perhaps
even Kennedy’s heir as “far and away the most effective Senator.”
All of this inspires me on a lot of levels, on the level
of finding one’s calling even in defeat and discouragement, on the level of
steady perseverance towards a large goal as having real power, on the level of
keeping steady vision towards one’s largest goals and chipping away right up
until one’s time on earth is over. (Just
this month, Kennedy made headlines locally for lobbying for a quick appointment
of his successor. Kennedy anticipated an
imminent vote on universal health care—his lifelong passion—and wanted to make
sure Massachusetts had two votes on the issue.)
Surely this has something to say about the big goals we
talk about here. What do you think?
