The hardest thing was waiting until I got home from work to cry

When I heard the news about Ted.

He is my absolute hero. There is no one close.

Picture a man who loses his older brother, Joseph, in WW2,

Who loses two other brothers, John and Robert, who he was very close to, to assassination,

Who loses his sister, Kathleen, and nephew John in plane crashes,

Who lives through a plane crash, himself, experiencing a severe back injury,
and loses his aide and pilot in the crash,

Who lives throught the pain of a son, Ted Jr, losing his leg
due to bone cancer,

And yet every single day,

despite all his trials in life,

despite being the target of endless mockery as the liberal poster boy,

despite having boundless wealth one can only dream of having,

He wakes up every day since 1962 and fights for those who have less than he,

And champions for what is true, and right, and just.

May some miracle save him, because if he leaves this world,

It will definitely be a darker place.

showing him with John and Bobby, probably taken around 1961 or so. They are all handsome, they look so young, and so filled with absolute promise. Sadly, we were robbed of a lot of that, but it's one of those pictures that is a little time capsule, and just speaks for itself.

them were still alive! I often think about things like that. Like
what the world would be like today, if Bush had capitalized on all
that good will immediately after 9-11. The whole world could
have been the wind behind our back.

That sounds like a great picture. I actually have a little
Ted memorabilia. In the 1988 convention, he was in the bar,
and I barged in and had him sign my convention pass.

took leadership roles.

Prayers are with you Ted and family.

and he does it daily

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=&imgrefurl=http://services.bostonglobe.com/globestore/category.cgi%3Fitem%3D4054885%26type%3Dstore%26category%3D136&h=356&w=450&sz=45&hl=en&start=1&tbnid=FOP6wyMKaECkaM:&tbnh=100&tbnw=127&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dkennedy%2Bbrothers%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den

wonder if he would have blossomed as much as he did
if they were still around. He had to take up the
mantle.

I haven't yet. It is on my list

set an example for others about selflessness, about fighting for what's right, for the right reasons.
He was basically eulogized on the m$m today. If he was watching, he had a preview of how he will be honored should this cancer get him. Very emotional, considered tacky by some, but this was big news to all of us.

Wail away, Laura. Many of us have been doing it today. :hug:

for what was right - no matter what!

I can not imagine being ill like that and watching TV tell the world
I am dying.

I love him. I really do. I tried but wasn't successful waiting till I got home to get choked up.

http://www.tedkennedy.com/page/-/splash/getwellsoon_KfS.html

:cry:

:kick:

just found it searching for photos of all three

I've never forgotten the sound of his voice as he worked so hard to maintain his composure while delivering the eulogy for Bobby. Ironically, what he said about his brother may prove to be a fitting tribute to Ted as well.



From Edward Kennedy: Eulogy for Robert F. Kennedy

he and Bobby were very close. It's one of the rare moments of public display of emotion.

Thank you Rufus !

*sniff*

It's been tremendously illuminating (and often very moving) to be able to watch footage or montages from this era again or anew.
For example, although I knew his words well, I had actually never seen the footage of RFK during that extraordinary speech he gave when he had to announce to a crowd in Indianapolis that Martin Luther King had been murdered:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=jPYNb4ex6Ko

I am praying he will make a speedy recovery.

I know the tears will come. It was kind of that way when JFK, Jr. died. I was in such shock I couldn't do anything. What I ended up doing was running up to the daily Mass at the cathedral downtown, because I knew they would offer up prayers to the Kennedy family. But what really did me in was the headline in a newspaper in Ireland. Then I absolutely lost it.

old feelings, doesn't it. Makes me want to become
a non-fallen-away Catholic again.

It also scares me about Obama. They only kill people
who people love.

and lives them - not some hollow campaign slogan.

Have you met him?

But he's been one of the very few politicians in my lifetime that I truly admire. When so many Democrats have fled from the "Liberal" tag he never did, and he stays true to those ideals, not an easy task in Washington.

couldn't - some come close, but none the same.

But, I was thinking about Kerry. I think lately, maybe since he
decided not to get in to the race, he's been that way - standing
for what is right, speaking his mind.

Maybe that's a lot of it - no big race in the horizon - nothing
to lose.

I may disagree with Ted about Obama, but I think Ted is a great fighter for all of us.

Too bad Ted couldn't have been president.... :cry:

I went with a friend whose father was a newspaper photographer assigned to photograph him. He snapped a picture of me standing SOOO Close to The Senator I could've reached out and shook his hand, but I was surrounded by men in suits and felt intimidated so I froze. I too cried when I heard. Somewhere my family has that picture.

it matted and framed and hang it in your favorite room.

All day long I haven't felt *anything* about this. A generic wish that it not be so, that's all.

Your post finally brought the tears. Thanks, I guess. Maybe I just don't want to face what we're going to lose in him leaving us.

It's been awhile since we've had leaders who could inspire that kind of song.

I think I am getting a little more used to the thought that this has happened now. Like a lot of people, I was so shocked, stunned, so pained, when I heard it yesterday afternoon, that my mind was just reeling with it. It was like a family member had just been diagnosed, and if you have ever had that experience, it was a cold and horrible jolt. This explained the seizure a few days ago, and now we know that, one way or another, things are not going to be the same anymore. Sen. Robert Byrd was right to cry.

To even try to imagine the Senate, the Democratic Party, new members of Congress, not getting the guidance and help of Ted Kennedy, the wit, the skill, is still awful and scary. Ted Kennedy was the only thing, for all the years of the 1990s on, fighting against the "D"LC and its ilk. All the achievements, all the accomplishments, the basic goodness and fairness, and now it seems yet another link to the great past, and the good people, is slipping, and will someday; just an overwhelming sense of a towering historical figure, real legendary greatness, that we can't afford to lose! This is still very depressing and scary. I hope things will go better than they seem to be, now.

your obituary while you are still alive?

I came close once. In my college days I traveled to Washington with a veterans' group from campus to lobby for veterans' benefits and for upgrading of less than honorable discharges. Senator Kennedy and Rep. Silvio Conte met with us and listened to our concerns.

I have another story which involves a friend of mine.

Christina was born in Greece. While attending college in England, she met Bjarne, a native of Denmark. They married, and when he was offered a good job in California, she came to the US with him. Their first daughter was born in California. They moved to Texas for another job, and their second daughter was born there. Shortly after they moved to Massachusetts for another job, Bjarne was diagnosed with colo-rectal cancer, stage 4. I met Christina when she joined my caregivers' support group at The Wellness Community. Bjarne fought the good fight for nearly three years, but ultimately the cancer won. Christina was left at age 35 a single mother of two daughters, age 8 and 6. Because she was in the US as the spouse of a man with a work visa, she lost her status when Bjarne died. She faced deportation. Senator Kennedy stepped in and took up her cause with Immigration. She now has the visa she needs, and a path to citizenship.

I truly hope he pulls through. We need Senator Kennedy, now more than ever.

hope and pride in the ideals that our country could aspire to. Hearing that Ted Kennedy is so ill has brought back the grief of the loss of his brothers and nephew. These men have been visionaries, and very bright lights amongst so much darkness.

that family that could have just sat and lived off of their wealth have spent their lives trying to help the less fortunate

for a true hero. Ted Kennedy is brilliant. I can't imagine a world without him. :kick:

We're not ready to lose you.

wishing him much stamina

and then the image I woke up with this morning was that picture of mortality contrasted with the bright and energetic and shining Obama. I think it is an image that will stay with me till my last day.

We should not take our true public servants for granted.

soul is rising !

We all gotta go sometime. My hope is that the country trends liberal and there will be people who can take the senator's place. Perhaps it's small consolation for losing someone so important to the party, but I'm hopeful.

Remember the old Paul Harvey bit where he didn't tell you who he was talking about until the end. He did one on a guy from a rich, prominent family who was severely injured in a plane crash and had to stay in bed for months, maybe years. He took up painting and was good enough that several people urged him to follow that as a career. Of course, it turns out this was Ted and of course he didn't follow that advice.