It was back in the early 70′s. We were in Washington protesting the war. Groups of scruffy little hippies were marauding through the Capitol Building, rushing into Congressmen’s offices, falling on the floor and announcing that this was a die-in. Their secretaries would look at us startled or shrug. I had fifteen minutes of fame – my mom spotted me lying there on the floor on the cover of the New York Times Sunday Magazine and showed it to me with great glee the next time I was home.
But back to the marauding. Someone spotted him. “That’s Ted Kennedy!” We all rushed over and were suddenly surrounding him, a motley crew indeed. He towered over us. But he was totally freaked out, his shoulders hunched in, fear on his face. He had no idea what to do or what was going to happen. One of the girls spoke to him, a deep hippie sweetness and wonder in her voice. “Are you scared of us? Don’t be scared of us. We won’t hurt you.” My reaction was “Wait a minute! We’ve got him on the run. Don’t give it away!”
Did any of us have anything else to say? I can’t remember. We wandered away, probably to fall on someone else’s floor.
Tags: anti-war demonstration, die-in, hippies, Ted Kennedy
Interesting story. I was truly saddened to hear of his death. Despite many problematic things about the man, he was a voice that I generally agreed with, especially later in his life. His death has some signalled to me the passing of an era in some sense. I’ll never forget what JFK said on this birthday at Madison Square Garden as his lover sang him Happy Birthday. “There are about 400 people in the US who are powerful enough to represent their own interests, it’s up the President to represent the interests of the others.” That sentiment, to me, was the best of what those Irish Boston Brahmins were about. We know the worst, but at this moment I prefer to forget it. After 15 months of battling a brain tumor, he deserves peace.
Thanks, Karen
I imagine there are words you wish you had found on the spur of that moment!
Ted’s passing is big news in Australia too.
The story is a distraction from the many problems they should be reporting.
Right now, I’m sitting here with all the bones in my ankle broken, at least one of them in three places. I have been on crutches since June. Every day, I crutch down to my mailbox to discover nothing but bills from the hospital. I am one of the millions of uninsured Americans, and my ankle is now worth over $30,000. Of course, with a broken ankle, I can’t really work, which leaves me with no money for these bills or any of the other crap that I have to pay for – tuition, textbooks, rent, food, transportation.
Right now, I have a lot of respect for a man who has been yelling about universal healthcare for decades. I would not have wanted to be Ted Kennedy, and I think he was as human and imperfect as anyone else. He made some awfully bad choices, I think maybe he did some ok things, too.
Of course, the good news is that the hospital can send as many bills as they want; there’s just no way to get blood from a stone. What are they going to do, repossess my ankle? HA!
PS I would pay big money (ok, figure of speech in light of my above post) to see the cover of that NY Times Magazine. Mike, you are an unending well of surprises!