Let me start by saying that there are many different kinds of heroes. Some of them have fought in war valiantly and selflessly, enduring horrors unimaginable to the rest of us. Some have made a career out of saving people, risking or losing their lives in the process of giving someone else the gift of life. Others have been flung into heroic acts on the spur of the moment such as those courageous passengers who overcame terrorists and brought down United Airlines flight 93 on that awful day in 2001. Then there are those unsung heroes who mentor our kids on a daily basis for little pay and frequently little gratitude. There is no doubt that these people can be called great American heroes.
Senator Ted Kennedy was none of these. He is certainly not unsung. We know a great deal about him. There was even a time in his life where he was considered an anti-hero of a sort. Living in the shadow of his assassinated brothers who had fought for civil rights, he was known for leaving the scene of a fatal accident that resulted in a woman's drowning. This almost cost him his career. Fortunately, for all of us, Kennedy moved past this and spent the next decades transforming into a different kind of hero.
During his nine terms as a U.S. Senator, Kennedy sponsored over 2,500 bills. Here are just a few of these: The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, The National Cancer Act of 1971, The Voting Rights Amendment Act of 1982, The Employment Opportunities for Disabled Americans Act of 1986, The National Military Childcare Act of 1989, The Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990, The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, The Family Opportunity Act of 2006. The list of progressive social reforms for which he is responsible for seems endless.
Although he worked throughout his career on a wide variety of issues, Senator Kennedy may be best known for his tireless efforts at accomplishing that task that we have been so passionate about in recent weeks. He served as chairman of the Senate's Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. He looked upon health care as a "fundamental right" of every American, and he was on a mission to enact healthcare reform until the day he died. Some say that it will be much more difficult to achieve comprehensive reform without his guidance, and I think, sadly, that there is much truth in this.
Perhaps the thing that made Senator Kennedy the most heroic is that he accomplished something that no one else in congress has really managed with such great success. He was often viewed as one of the most, if not the most, liberal person in the Senate. His views sometimes left him in the minority. He was one of only 23 senators who voted against the Iraq War Resolution. And yet, not only was he greatly respected and admired by his most conservative colleagues, he actually managed to compromise with them on countless key pieces of legislation without sacrificing his commitment to his ideals. One can guess, but I don't think anyone will ever really understand how he did this.
To say that Ted Kennedy was heroic is not to say that he was perfect. No hero ever is. He made mistakes and spent some of his life combatting the kind of personal problems to which many of us can relate. There wasn't anything very dramatic about his heroism either, but, for me, Senator Kennedy was the voice of reason in a world that often seemed insane. What he said always made sense. He never resorted to the emotional tactics of persuasion through distortion and lies that we so frequently see in politics. He is a hero because he understood what people needed, and he spent his life giving it to them through his legislation. The United States is a better place because of him, and we have experienced a great loss.
Image Courtesy of chrisseddon.com
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