Kennedy Family Statement
It is a postcard summer morning in New England...the kind of morning that Cape Cod sailors love, a morning you would expect to see a sailboat off of Hyannis Port. This morning, however, the sailboats off the Cape sail without him.
Around here he was known simply as "Teddy" and we cannot remember a time when he was not "our" Senator. The loss of Senator Edward M. Kennedy feels personal as we have never known a time when he was not there, not at the center of an important vote or championing the causes that matter. He was a father figure to not only a family that relied on him no matter their sadness but also to those of us who knew he would be at the helm, in the forefront of important fights, doing whatever it took make it better for us all. Such was our faith in this man whose power grew along with the respect he earned. His personal demons and political mistakes shaped him and helped him become a rarity in American politics, a true leader we trusted.
"The commitment I seek is not to outworn views but to old values that will never wear out. Programs may sometimes become obsolete, but the ideal of fairness always endures. Circumstances may change, but the work of compassion must continue. It is surely correct that we cannot solve problems by throwing money at them, but it is also correct that we dare not throw out our national problems onto a scrap heap of inattention and indifference...."
The news of the loss of "Teddy" Kennedy is not a surprise but a jolt nonetheless. Through his battle with brain cancer The senior senator from Massachusetts made some extraordinary public appearances and never stopped working. In recent weeks, however, he was unable to attend his sister Eunice's funeral and he issued an urgent plea for the fight for health care reform that he spent over 30 years tirelessly fighting for and the issue he declared "the cause of my life."
Perhaps we just thought he would always be there,as he has been for nearly five decades, fighting the good fight as the last liberal voice, devoting his career to achieving rights and dignity for those who did not have the privileges of the Kennedy name,serving as the family patriarch whose strength and love brought such a center to a family torn by tragedy and pain time and time again.
"...Let this be our commitment: Whatever sacrifices must be made will be shared and shared fairly. And let this be our confidence: At the end of our journey and always before us shines that ideal of liberty and justice for all...For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."
Senator Kennedy,1980
To [Tho] much is taken, much abides
That which we are, we are --
One equal temper of heroic hearts
Strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."
Tennyson
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