Pondering Some Lessons of Ted Kennedy

"The work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dream shall never die."
- Senator Edward M. Kennedy

Several years ago, while I was still living in Toronto, I made the mistake of commenting to a native of Massachusetts that I could not understand how Senator Edward Kennedy kept being elected. She let me know in no uncertain terms that Senator Kennedy was held dear by every one of his constituents and was the finest senator a state could possibly have. Of course, now I understand what she said.

Today, on the day of his funeral, we were also given insight to why and how this man was loved and revered by so many.

In particular, his son, Teddy, gave his very personal eulogy where he told of a father who instilled confidence in a 12-year-old who had lost a leg to cancer. In essence, he told his son, Ted Jr. that they - together - would make it up an icy slope together . . . even if it took them all day . . . and that he would help Teddy Jr. do what his son thought he could not.

The story of Ted Kennedy is a story of a person who knew he was not a perfect person. Here is a man who knew he could not make the bad things he had done go away. He knew he could not bring back siblings or children who died. Nor can we. Sometimes, bad stuff happens to us and sometimes, we ourselves cause bad stuff to happen. Only a strong belief in God's grace, forgiveness and redemption can get us to turn our lives around and put ourselves back on course to lead a good and fruitful life.

I have never been sure whether the Kennedy Family had more bad things happen to them, or if it really just seemed that way because they were such a large family.

By the time you are my age, you probably have had some bad things happen . . . death of loved ones, sickness, loss of income, addiction . . . either to yourself or to someone you loved.

It takes less energy to forgive someone and get on with life than it does to mull their transgression around in your mind for the rest of your life. Everybody has bad days when they give up on being nice and sometimes you are the one standing there when they just cannot take it any more. To understand that is to bring peace to your own being and joy to your life.

Many of us - perhaps not all of us - have had some really bad stuff happen to us in our lives. Children die, parents die, spouses die, hearts break, minds break. We have some really rough times and we think our lives will never be smooth again. As I have grown older, I have realized that many people have many of the same wretched things happen to them as I have had. Sometimes I am surprised to realize that perhaps they have not handled it even as well as I.

I call my blog Yonge Street Texan, because I know I will always see Texas through Canadian eyes. Probably because I am a Canadian and raised in Toronto when Canada was still a British Colony, I am a little more conservative and a little more detailed. I take things a little more seriously and do things more "by the book". But if I went back to live in Toronto, I know I would take all I have learned here in Texas and my attitude - while not totally relaxed - would be more calm and I would have more fun.

We can only learn to be the best we can be and we cannot control who are parents were or how healthy we or our children are. We can only try to live healthy lives and must understand that sometimes disease just happens. We can only deal with each aspect of our life as it comes to us and do our very best. We can learn the art of forgiveness and learn that we can generally dust ourselves off and get on with doing our very best and having a very good life.

God Bless!