They never released they kind of brain cancer that Ted Kennedy had but it was widely speculated that he had the same kind of brain cancer that my mother has.  My mother was diagnosed before Ted Kennedy, the only thing that I can think is that my mother has outlived him.

I watched Teddy a lot in the  U.S. Congress over the past few years.  I took a liking to him.

I wish I had the time to compose a memorial poem for him. Since I don't I can only say:  His light shone in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it. He sure had a lot of courage and it is said that in his later years he redeemed himself  from  all of  his earlier mistakes.

Shine on Teddy.....shine on......

May God's perpetual light shine on Teddy forever sending golden rays of soft warm love. Heartfelt condolences and sympathy to the family.

Quote:

Kennedy was only 12 years old when his eldest brother, Joseph Jr., died during a World War II bombing mission. By the age of 36, Teddy, as his family called him, had lost three more siblings, including his two remaining brothers, Jack and Bobby, who were killed at the hands of assassins. In 1964, a plane Kennedy was taking to a campaign event crashed into an apple orchard in western Massachusetts. The pilot died, as did Ed Moss, a Kennedy aide. The Senator, then just 32, faced months of recuperation from a serious back injury.

Other personal tragedies followed as family members struggled with drug abuse, disease and premature death. His first wife, Joan, suffered three miscarriages, and after their separation, she was repeatedly treated for alcoholism. Two of his children have battled cancer, with his oldest, Ted Jr., losing a leg to the disease at age 12.

http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1919041,00.html?loomia_si=t0:a16:g2:r1:c0.094587:b27386316&xid=Loomia

P.S. Also his nephew John's death in a plane crash not included in the link and I think he had a mentally challenged sister?

I remember when John Kennedy was killed - I can still picture Jackie and the children during the days following his death.

Senator Kennedy was a kind, loving and caring man.  May he rest in peace.

I have watched coverage of the Memorial Service, the Funeral and the Burial.

 Some  become jaded and cynical when people are of wealth and prestige, as was Teddy Kennedy. But I was moved when I heard his legacy and the accolades from friends and political foes moved me.

Teddy faced much tragedy and  many personal flaws and many bad personal decisions and choices but he rose above these and moved on.

It would seem that he embodied the words " What  does the Lord require of you. To seek justice and love kindness and walk humbly with your God".

Rest in Peace.

I'm not usually a big fan of politicians, but Ted Kennedy was probably the best president the United States never had.  He was well respected beyond the boundaries of the USA.   Fortunately, he didn't meet the same fate as his brothers, and he did a lot for the American people, especially in the field of health care. 

on balance, a man with faults like all of us - and maybe bigger because he had more opportunity for big faults - but perhaps the most capable of the family (almost certainly ahead of JFK).

The disturbing part of this is something that is not his fault. If opportunity is equal and the US is a democracy, can you imagine the odds against one immediate family having three members occupy such prominent political roles over a period some sixty years? Make that four, since some half wits were encouraging JFK's son to go for presidemt.

That sort of dynastic succession has pretty much vanished even in Britain with the decline of the aristocracy. But in the US, the aristocracy of wealth such as that of the Kennedy's, the Bushes, the Doles, the Roosevelts rules as effectively as the house of lords in nineteenth cenuty Britian. That doesn't look healthy in a democracy.

He was a great man who will be greatly missed. We could use more like him...

The quality of greatness was certainly there. That can surely be recognized even by those who didn't like him or agree with him. Indeed, it has nothing to do with whether he was right or wrong. The greatness is that he endured so very long in a corrupt system, and was able to accmplish his work within that system despite all its failings. That is greatness.

In the sense, he exceeded JFK who was perhaps more glamour than greatness (hard to say in such a short time), and Bobby who simply didn't live long enough, either

graeme

Friends and family of Mary Jo Kopechne might disagree with you. 

While this incident happened before I was born and I truthfully am not all that familiar with it the story I found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chappaquiddick_incident does not reflect the actions of a great man to my way of thinking.  If the story as outlined contains errors I would be interested in finding them out which may change my thinking on the man.

Well, I can agree with you but.....

Winston churchill ordered the bombing and gassing of civilians in Iraq when he was minister of colonies in 1920.

George Bush senior was director of the CIA at a time when it was organizing the mass murder and torture of native peoples in Guatemala.

John A Macdonald was on the take throughout his political career.

Rene Levesque had been drinking and was driving without his glasses on the night when he hit and killed a veteran. (the police, in a puzzling reverse of the usual procedure, tested the dead man for alcohol.)

A famous Canadian business executive who devoted much of his time and fortune to helping young people was almost certainly a pedophile.

And Dog, the Bounty Hunter, did time for murder.

Hard to get a pure hero.

Good point.  May disagree with you as Dog the Bounty Hunter as a hero but good point nonetheless.