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Monday, August 25, 2008

Call me an old sap

I was going to go to bed really early and miss the Kennedy tribute, but once I finished one last piece of work that couldn't wait till tomorrow, it was only 15 minutes till the scheduled time. So I turned on C-Span live, plunked myself down in front of the television, started tearing up during Caroline Kennedy's introduction, got seriously misty during the film tribute, and wept while Ted Kennedy spoke.

Now the Dems are dancing to the tune of Kool and the Gang's "Celebrate" (one of my favorite songs). Someone has orchestrated this well, literally and figuratively.

It's not the Kennedy mystique that makes me weep. It's the lifting up of the people and especially the poor, and the way in which Ted K has been my senator (literally - I lived 15 years in Massachusetts, not counting three earlier school years) and theirs. I've seen him work, year after year. (Flashback: Seeing him at a community health center in Boston, at an AIDS-related event. 20 years ago.) And there he was, brain tumor and all. I hope he lives to see President Obama.

Something else brought me to tears, and Caroline Kennedy spoke of it. It was that mobilizing energy. That desire to get to work. That urge toward the common good. That wish to love our country the way we want to love it and the way it deserves to be loved.

Now I can go to bed.


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2 comments:

  1. FranAugust 26, 2008 at 6:49 AM

    I cried while I watched last night, I cried while I read your post this morning.

    It was good- really, really good.

    ReplyDelete
  2. pjAugust 26, 2008 at 8:48 PM

    Ted is really most consistently decent senator we have. And Massachusetts (despite that weird Romney blip) is my favorite state.

    Obama is going to win, Ted is going to see it, and we're all going to crawl up out of this hole we've been in and see the light of day. Believe it.

    ReplyDelete

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