I haven't known what to say about the news of Ted Kennedy's brain cancer. I know that I feel shocked, and immensely saddened for him and his family, but the words just aren't there.
Ted's older brother John was inaugurated President in January 1961. I was age 18 and I graduated High School that following May. Ted was the little brother who was elected Senator in 1962 while his two older brothers were President and Attorney General. From then on in everything that mattered to America in the 60's and 70's the Kennedy family was always at center stage challenging us to be better.
As the rest of the Kennedy's were assassinated or died off, Ted Kennedy remained to keep that great candle lit. He always reminded the Senate and the nation what the Kennedy's stood for in American national politics - “struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease and war itself.”
The Kennedy family has been part of the backdrop of my entire adult life. They have continually challenged America to be better than it was the day before. That's almost five decades.
But that's mostly just about me, not about Ted. What are the right words now?
As is so often the case, Bob Herbert at the New York Times has gotten close to the right words. Go read them.
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