The lion brought his fist down on the desk before him with a resounding slam that shook the Senate chamber's rococo plaster medallions enough to shower a soupcon of white powder from the high ceiling. It was 1978 and Edward Kennedy's initial grand rhetorical statement on the rights of all people in this country to equitable access to quality health care.
Today the voice of the old mighty lion has been silenced by cancer. The last of the old pride is gone, and it is left to the post-mod's to grasp, if they can, the elegance and breadth and scope of the old reformers' huge beliefs in possibilities. Don't get me wrong; these old graymanes weren't seduced by illusive concepts tied up in chimeric perfection. They cut deals, compromised, and lived lives more closely allied with the sinners than the saints.
But they held that labor agreements arrived at through collective bargaining should be honored. They authored legislation that raised the quality of living for those whom Jesus called "the least of these". And they upheld the concept that all Americans have the right to an unobstructed pathway to education and self-improvement.
As my son and I raise our glasses in a champagne toast, we salute the old lions. You young ones, you who would strive for the leadership of our pride, listen. Can you measure up?
The hope rises again. And the dream lives on!
Good night, sweet prince.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
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