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Let's just take a minute and look at the facts. By the time Ted was 36, he had lost all 3 of his brothers to violence...2 assassinated while in public life. Don't you think he had to wonder, every time he walked out the door, if it would be his turn?
He had lost a sister to a plane crash and he almost died in a plane crash himelf and suffered the painful after effects of having had his back broken in the crash for the rest of his life.
At 36 he became the lifelong surogate father to his brothers' 13 children as well as being a father to his own 3 children. Trying to "father" 16 young children at the age of 36....just think about that for a minute.
His father, who had suffered a stroke by that time, put the responsibility of meeting all the goals he had for his family on Ted's shoulders...at the age of 36. And Ted had spent his entire life trying to live up to his father's demands.
A few years later his own son suffered the loss of a leg through cancer. And Ted's wife at that time suffered from alcholism and was involved in one accident after the other. Any help and support from that area was not going to happen. (I'm not blaming her. I'm just stating facts.)
So please, don't just think up a smart comeback. Please, just take a minute, think about these FACTS, and ask yourself how you would handle all these crushing blows coming one after the other. I'm not asking you to "excuse" mistakes made by Ted. I'm just asking you to have the humanity to understand how a fellow human being, who has suffered what he suffered, could turn to drink and could have made the mistakes.
To me the wonder isn't that he made those mistakes through drinking. The wonder is that inspite of the horror in his life...and inspite of his mistakes ..he was able to still get up each day and work so hard to help others. I think that, if we are honest, very few of us could have done that.
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Originally Posted by LML
And I claim that it is NOT UP TO YOU to decide if he was redeemed or not. Thankfully. ............. not the vengeful mob on this forum.
Let's just take a minute and look at the facts. By the time Ted was 36, he had lost all 3 of his brothers to violence...2 assassinated while in public life. Don't you think he had to wonder, every time he walked out the door, if it would be his turn?
He had lost a sister to a plane crash and he almost died in a plane crash himelf and suffered the painful after effects of having had his back broken in the crash for the rest of his life.
At 36 he became the lifelong surogate father to his brothers' 13 children as well as being a father to his own 3 children. Trying to "father" 16 young children at the age of 36....just think about that for a minute.
His father, who had suffered a stroke by that time, put the responsibility of meeting all the goals he had for his family on Ted's shoulders...at the age of 36. And Ted had spent his entire life trying to live up to his father's demands.
A few years later his own son suffered the loss of a leg through cancer. And Ted's wife at that time suffered from alcholism and was involved in one accident after the other. Any help and support from that area was not going to happen. (I'm not blaming her. I'm just stating facts.)
So please, don't just think up a smart comeback. Please, just take a minute, think about these FACTS, and ask yourself how you would handle all these crushing blows coming one after the other. I'm not asking you to "excuse" mistakes made by Ted. I'm just asking you to have the humanity to understand how a fellow human being, who has suffered what he suffered, could turn to drink and could have made the mistakes.
To me the wonder isn't that he made those mistakes through drinking. The wonder is that inspite of the horror in his life...and inspite of his mistakes ..he was able to still get up each day and work so hard to help others. I think that, if we are honest, very few of us could have done that.
Very true - I have always thought that Joe Kennedy looked at Teddy as a superflous son until he was the only one left. I think TK would have been happier as a lawyer doing his thing then having to live with the heavy mantle of being the 'Last Kennedy'.
That said, I do not understand this call to deify him (not that you are) or anyone else from that particular gene pool. There is greatness in that family (just as there are in many others) as well as lowlife scum (just as there are in many others). To make the name 'Kennedy' synonomous with greatness is a grave mistake - just look at what it did to Ted Kennedy.
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