But today was a different kind of day for me. Maybe it was the sudden refreshing coolness that made me appreciate the smooth transition from grey pavement to grey building to grey sky. Maybe it was my morning yoga class that left me a little more enlightened and calm than usual. Or maybe it was starting my day by watching our nation’s past and current leaders honoring the life and accomplishments of Ted Kennedy. It gave me hope that that as long as we embrace leaders who learn from their mistakes, make an effort to understand the viewpoints of others – despite ideological differences – and truly believe in the power of their own actions to make the world a better place, that tomorrow and every day after it will be better than today.
“The future will outlast all of us, but I believe that all of us will live on in the future we make.”
At the risk of sounding like a sentimental loser, (you’ll have to excuse me, but as a Massachusett’s girl, political junky and lefty at heart, I’ll miss the Liberal Lion dearly), I’ll leave you, dear readers, with three little experiences I had this morning that made me smile to myself and, perhaps, gave me a tidbit more faith in humanity. Sure, as MLR so kindly pointed out, the leap from Teddy K. to homeless men eating ice cream is a big one. But today I'm seeing the world through rose colored glasses in honor of someone who, like New York, wasn't perfect, but always came through when you needed him to.
A homeless man eating a pint of Ben and Jerry’s like it was truly the most glorious moment of his life. Sure, maybe he was stoned off his ass or something, but I like to think that he was finding joy in Phish Food instead of vodka and heroin.
Three surly-looking hipsters sitting around talking about how they were moving to the suburbs to give their children better lives instead of staying in the city, which is what they’d prefer to do for themselves. And here I thought they were going to be talking about each other's plaid shirts and keffiyehs.
A morning conversation between two older women at the neighborhood specialty store about the beauty of supporting local, family run businesses – even if they charge us an extra dollar for milk in the middle of a terrible recession.
A random man walking by stopping to help a delivery boy right an entire rack of bicycles he had knocked over moments earlier, despite the fact delivery boys probably have the worst karma ever as a result of purposefully trying to run over pedestrians on a daily basis.
Even though for every good thing we witness, there are probably 10 men out there trying to peek up the skirt of a girl sitting in the window seat at Starbucks, some days maybe its just important to let these things roll off your back and to actively look for what you want to see – and for me today, that was hope.
15 comments:
"A homeless man eating a pint of Ben and Jerry’s like it was truly the most glorious moment of his life. Sure, maybe he was stoned off his ass or something, but I like to think that he was finding joy in Phish Food instead of vodka and heroin."
I wonder which is associated with a higher morbidity and mortality?
Agreed though. I was pretty moved by this morning's scenes as well.
This post makes me want to sail the uncharted waters toward something that could be really, really amazing.
"Learn from past mistakes" - Teddy is an excellent role model when it comes to this - he only killed an innocent woman once while driving drunk - he must have truly learned a valuable lesson from that mistake because he hasn't killed anyone since (that we know about).
I must confess that my money was on Scos being the lead singer of the Chappaquiddick Chorus. Congrats Brah!
Ted Kennedy was an extraordinarily effective politician, and a hero and inspiration to many. If you don't believe me, just turn on the television. Or, read this post, which is both poignant and funny.
Did Ted Kennedy learn from his mistakes and make an effort to understand the viewpoints of others? No, I don't believe he did. But Makens is certainly right that he did believe in the power of his own actions to make the world a better place.
The salient question is: Did he make the world a better place? I would argue that he did not. Intentions are one thing; results are quite another.
We could debate this for a long time, and I'm sure it would be a spirited one. And I'm happy to oblige, but perhaps, let's let some time pass. As you might imagine, I didn't particularly care for this man, his views, or his rhetoric. But many people did, and they are grieving right now.
As the Romans taught us, it is best not to speak ill of the deceased. So, I leave you with one of the more gracious eulogies I have read:
"In a life filled with trials, Ted Kennedy never gave in to self-pity or despair. He maintained his optimistic spirit, his sense of humor, and his faith in his fellow citizens. He loved his family and his country – and he served them until the end. He will be deeply missed."
R.I.P.
So, the key to getting lots of comments is to post about people with polarizing political viewpoints? Consider it noted.
Aw, I love a good NY "I actually like this city" moment.
Thanks for bring back the love in all those "I heart NY" t-shirts.
It is really shocking to me what partisanship can do to seemingly reasonable people. Less than ten minutes of searching on the intertubz reveals that the late Senator was at least one of, if not the only, driving force behind the following major pieces of federal legislation:
* With Jacob Javits (R-NY) led the passage of the National Cancer Act of 1971. This bill amended the Public Health Service Act to strengthen the National Cancer Institute and was signed into law by President Nixon in 1971.
* He was a leading member supporting the passage of the Federal Election Campaign Act Amendments of 1974, which set contribution limits and established public financing for presidential elections.
* Driving force behind the passage of the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985, which was signed into law by Ronald Reagan. This one sounds dense until you hear the acronym: COBRA. Scos, are you on COBRA right now? I know I was after I left my job, and I bet some of the readership has been as well.
* Driving force behind the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, which was signed into law by President H.W. Bush. Not sure if this one needs explanation, but essentially it affords similar protections against discrimination to Americans with disabilities as the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This law was actually amended and expanded by the 152nd Congress and those expansions were signed into law by George W. Bush.
* With Orrin Hatch (R-UT), he staged a protracted battle against Jesse Helms to secure funding to combat AIDS and provide treatment to low-income individuals, an effort that culminated in the passage of the Ryan White Care Act (also known as the CARE act), which was signed into law by
George H.W. Bush and reauthorized and expanded under George W. Bush.
* Managed successful passage of President Clinton's National and Community Service Trust Act of 1993 that created the AmeriCorps program.
* Again joined with Orrin Hatch to ensure the passage of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) in 1997.
* In addition to his legislative accomplishments, Kennedy was also involved in numerous humanitarian issues overseas throughout his Senate career. To name just one example of many, in 1985, he traveled to apartheid South Africa to stay with Desmond Tutu and meet with the wife of then-imprisoned Nelson Mandela, despite the official protests of the RSA government and numerous death threats.
These are just a few of accomplishments in this man's life, many of which greatly influence how we live in this country today. I think it would be a stretch to call these bills partisan in any sense, and you'll note I didn't name any examples of the more contentious partisan moments in his career that I might personally agree with (See Bork, R.)
We get it. You didn't like Teddy. But to assert the man didn't make the world a better place is either uninformed or tenditious in the extreme. Approximately 1 in 5 people (at last count) in this country are disabled and would take serious issue with you. You make a big point in your comment about not being partisan, but the glibness with which you dismiss one of the greatest legislative careers this country has seen belies that. But hey!, you're driving traffic so... kudos!
Like Sarah Vowell (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/31/opinion/31vowell.html), I enjoyed Pell Grants during my education. Another one of those delightful, Democratic programs that Ted Kennedy spent his professional career defending and building. I wonder how many more doctors and engineers and writers and builders of industry even good lawmakers enjoyed the same Pell Grants that helped make high quality advanced education an affordable option, instead of a pipedream.
I heard conservative columnist William Safire describe Barack Obama as a Ted Kennedy Democrat on "This Week." Wonderful news.
Certainly, EFK was a man of many personal failings, and a man who probably wouldn't have achieved his lot in life had his last name been "Martin" or "Borowoski." But he really was a dedicated public servant and advocate, and the results speak for themselves.
Not to be a stickler, BMar, but it's EMK - A fact I only know because of a quote by Edward McCormack, Ted's Democratic challenger in the 1962 election to fill JFK's vacated senate seat:
"If his name was Edward Moore with his qualifications, with your qualifications, Teddy, if it was Edward Moore your candidacy would be a joke. Nobody's laughing, because his name is not Edward Moore it is Edward Moore Kennedy."
This is a point that was deftly tackled by Charles Pierce in 2003. Pierce notes that much of Kennedy's bipartisan efforts, including his work with Bush to develop No Child Left Behind, as well as his accompishments, many of which have been noted by WOHJR.
It's a good read for anyone who wants honest insight into the conflicted, public life of Ted - all the more compelling, in my opinion, because it doesn't glorify him posthumously as so much of what has come out in the past few weeks has, but approaches his life with honesty and realism.
I guess my point in this post was the Senator Kennedy was undoubtedly a flawed and troubled person, but despite all of this, he went from being an unqualified Kennedy living off his famous name to one of the more dedicated and accomplished legislators of our time.
Wow. I just got an email that a certain someone (no names!) was taking shots at me in the comments section of this post. This is the spirited debate I was talking about, complete with bombast and border-line name calling! While I still believe we should let some time pass, and will hold to that, let me quickly address a few things.
I said Teddy was an "extraordinarily effective politician" because he passed a tremendous amount of legislation and served in the senate for over forty years. Were these laws categorically good? I think some of them were, like his support for civil-rights and voting-rights legislation, as well as some of law you cited (by the way, thanks for that). But I never claimed otherwise.
What I did say - and I'm happy to argue this further, in a separate later post, perhaps - is that he didn't leave the world a better place. How could this be? Very simply, he supported many laws and policies (both domestic and abroad) that, despite what he may have intended, ultimately hurt this country; I'm arguing that their consequences outweigh the good that he did.
By the way, I never used the word "partisan" despite your repeated claims that I did.
To answer your other question, yes I am on Cobra. And it's maddeningly expensive and confusing. Does government's role in the health care industry have anything to do with that, or should we simply blame the greed of insurance companies, big pharma and doctors?
An interesting and relevant tidbit: While Senator Kennedy loudly denounced HMO's in 2001 for providing "second rate care" to the poor, he actually passed the legislation that created the modern HMO - and much of the bureaucratic nightmare that we have today - almost 30 years earlier. And now, of course, the Dems are trying to use his death to ram through new healthcare legislation that will help "solve" the problems that politicians like Senator Kennedy, paradoxically, created in the first place.
Thanks for the "driving traffic" compliment, although I feel it was meant sarcastically. I'm sure you could contribute to our surging popularity as well, if you started posting again. Personally, I'd like to see that, minus the ranting.
Ah, but you're already walking back what you said in the above post.
Its pretty hard to respond to this as you are providing little or no evidence to your assertion that, on balance, his life's works caused more harm than good. So I'll wait for that other post.
I feel that I've shown he's improved life for a number of people in this country, including you and at one point me. If you can show material harm to 1 in 5 Americans (this excludes people like our Bmar and other Pell grantees even so it should be extra easy) you might have me interested.
COBRA merely requires employers to offer to extend coverage to ex-employees for a certain period of time or to instead pay an excise tax. Everyone remains on the insurance plan that they were on while they were employed. So, yes, if you have beef with COBRA, the problem would be with the insurer. If COBRA is too maddening you could go without insurance I guess....
I of course intend no offense, and would greatly enjoy posting a bit more regularly again... if the demands of contract law allow it
Walking back? Whatchoo you talkin' bout, Willis? And you're missing my point about healthcare, entirely.
I didn't cite other examples, as it hasn't been one week since his death. But I could make the argument with regard to: Vietnam, the Cold War, welfare (and welfare reform), immigration, taxes, school-choice, health care reform and even Iraq, which we definitely won't get into here (though it seems you've brought that up in my most recent post).
But again, let's do it after Labor Day. Maybe we could start a one-on-one, head-to-head feature in which we each take on a (specific) hot-button political issue, make an argument / counter-argument and then let the crowd chime in. And somehow, we'll make it funny too. I'll shoot you an email to discuss.
And sorry, Makens, for plugging up your post. But again, great jaerb.
No, I got your point on COBRA.
Whenever you feel like fleshing out these continued assertions, feel free-- but realize it is hard for me (and the readers, perhaps) to take you seriously until you do. Till then...
Post a Comment