Emma C. Johnson Writer/Artist/Musician: August 2009

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Senator Ted Kennedy

I've always loved the Kennedy's. And I'm not saying this because Ted Kennedy died last week and so I'm thinking about it now and have recently decided that I'm obsessed with them. I've admired the Kennedy's for a very long time. As a kid I saw them as wealthy liberals who had no reason to take up the causes they did and I respected them for it. I also appreciated how genuine they were--they weren't liberal just to be trendy. Now, to correct myself, this past week I learned that they were discriminated against as Irish immigrants and never forgot what it was like to be discriminated against even after they came to power. OK, so discrimination could have been the catalyst, but they still never forgot where they came from and they still took up many issues not directly related to themselves. When someone asked Ted Kennedy why he took up the cause of the poor since it wasn't an issue that had ever affected him directly, he couldn't believe the question; because, wasn't it obvious? ("Whatsoever you do to the least of my brethren, you do unto me" Matthew 25:40)

Yesterday I watched the funeral on TV with my mom. One story I thought was pretty amazing was that he had written all 177 family members of 9/11 victims in Massachsetts every year and even invited and took some on his boat! And then there was a 13-year-old girl who had been paired with him in 2nd grade to be his reading partner when he volunteered to read with children once a week--without notifying any of the press, so no one knew he did this until now. Anyway, my mom said she wasn't so surprised:

When she was a U.S.2 at Central Michigan University after she graduated from there, a student had said she was frustrated because she was trying to write a paper on health care and couldn't find much information. My mom suggested writing or calling Ted Kennedy and said that the secretary or his office staff would probably be able to send her a packet of information (because this was before the internet). So, the student called and said she was a college student writing a research paper and the secretary said, "OK, I'll connect you through to the Senator." So, he talked to her and sent her a packet of information about health care and proposed health care reform. She was shocked: "He's a Senator! They're busy and so I only expected to talk to his staff. I mean, I'm just a college student... and I'm not even in his voting district!"

This is just an anecdote that only a handful of people would have heard. I wonder how many more stories there are like this that 99% of us have no idea.