They’re burying Edward Kennedy today, and in watching the funeral, I found myself getting choked up, teary-eyed over a man I never met, never knew except for brief appearances on television, glances at the Congressional record, never even read that much about. Compared to what I (used) to know about his brothers, what I knew about Edward Kennedy could fill a thimble. And yet here I was, watching his funeral mass, and I was choking up. I know I have a tendency to get overly emotional about some things, but this? When my mother told me he died, I was sad, but no tears. Nothing like that. Just “Oh.” Even though standing in my kitchen with my mother, I knew something had changed and probably not for the better, it still…didn’t quite strike me.
In part, I guess it comes down to the fact that Edward Kennedy was the only very politically active–and successful, despite faults and mistakes–Kennedy I ever ‘knew.’ I know the stories of his brothers, Jack and Bobby, but I didn’t live those times. The older I got, the more I came to realize that while the brothers were inspiring figures, Ted accomplished volumes more–and I wonder if either JFK or Bobby could have done more if they had lived. I’m not sure it’s possible for that to have happened, given the turbulent times that they lived in. I think that Bobby would have had more chance than JFK. JFK’s presidency is tragic, storied…but I have a feeling that it would have ended in disappointment, both for him and everyone that looked to him as some sort of shining beacon of hope. (There’s an incredible irony here, given all the comparisons made between him and Barack Obama–I admit to having a great deal more faith in Barack than my historian’s eye will allow me to have toward a “what if” of JFK’s presidency.)
The fact of the matter is, when you get right down to it, that Edward Kennedy could never cover up all the mistakes he made in his personal life and yet still make an incredible difference in American political life. The Lion of the Senate, patriarch to a family that is now suddenly bereft of one (it will be interesting to see who rises to the occassion inside of the clan to take on the enormous mantle Ted shouldered). He was so much and did so much…but he was still a father, a brother, a husband, an uncle, a grandfather–you can look at the faces of his family and know that, to see the pain that’s stoic and raw at the same time–stoic because they’re on camera, raw because even though his death was a foregone conclusion, you know that they weren’t ready to lose him. You’re never ready for a blow like that.
I found the prayers for intercession, offered by his children, nieces and nephews and grandchildren, to be the most poignant part of the service (beyond, perhaps, Kara Kennedy’s responsal psalm, which I’ll have to identify later). I hope god really does hear those prayers, because I can’t really imagine who will take up everything that Edward championed–or who can afford to, who’s powerful enough to take them up without totally torpedoing their political career. They’re things that are necessary and right and without them…I don’t know where the country and the world will end up.
God will have a lot for the Senator to accomplish in heaven before his next time on earth. He’s certainly paid his penance for his mistakes in this life, in working so hard for the common good. There will be some that will say no, he’s going to hell for this sin, for that sin. I don’t believe that’s the case, nor do I believe that he’s going to languish in purgatory for mistakes made. No…he’s got important work to do. He started it in this life, and it’ll be continued in the next, of that I’m certain.
Go softly, Senator. You’re already dearly missed, but the respite is deserved.
