Being on vacation, I spent a little time watching the funeral events surrounding the death of Senator Edward Kennedy. I realize that I know little about how things were in reality. However, here are a few thoughts on what I thought was helpful to learn from the Senator’s life:
- Forceful Convictions. No one would deny the conviction and fire behind the Senator’s political convictions. You don’t have to flatten your convictions in order to be effective; often the opposite is true.
- Personal Care. The stories of Senator Kennedy’s personal care for collegues, family, and constituents were ennumerable, from notes to calls and visits. He was often the first and sometimes unexpected person to contact someone who had personal tragedy.
- Personal Graciousness. While a lion in the Senate chamber, he was known as gracious in person and behind the scenes.
- Adversaries Can Still Be Patriots. Perhaps this is a discipline of generational difference. I have seen this to be a truth evident in a number of those in older generations, where political and even personal convictions can be forcefully delivered without being personally demeaning; but rather, still maintaining personal regard and respect.
- Adversaries Can Still Be Friends. While he publicly excoriated Republicans, he personally befriended many of them. There is a missing lesson to be learned here.
- Family Loyalty. The Kennedy’s are a storied family, but there seems to be a strong sense of loyalty and genuine affection among them to one another.
- Family Involvement. The Senator, as powerful as he was and as busy as he no doubt was, seemed to deeply involve himself in the life of his family. I didn’t hear of him being a couch potato in front of a TV ignoring time invested in his children and extended family.
- Co-worker Loyalty. Over 500 former staff members showed up for his 75th birthday celebration. He was known as one of the most powerful and influential personalities in Washington D.C. for decades and yet would not tolerate poor treatment of his staff.
- Work Ethic. He was never viewed as one of the smartest individuals; such merely fueled his work ethic to understand the issues and push himself to be on the front line.
- Personal Contact. His personal calls and notes to multitudes of people for multitudes of reasons seemed to be ubiquitous. Some say that he survived the 1994 Republican swell to power because he had such a close personal contact with his constituency.
I’ll have a few other comments about the Kennedy Funeral and the Gospel Message.
