Leave the great indoorsnotes on the journey

Today we woke up to the tragic news of Sen. Edward Kennedy’s death at age 77.  Sen. Kennedy’s death is a huge loss to the United States.  Like all of us, he was not without his flaws.  But unlike most of us, he never stopped fighting for the rights of those who cannot fight for themselves.  He leaves behind a legislative legacy in the United States that makes him the most influential senator of our time.  But the Kennedy legacy goes beyond that, and the family’s impact on South African history should also be remembered.  There are two events in particular that I would like to mention.

Speech to South African youth on Day of Affirmation in 1966

First, the news coverage of Sen. Kennedy’s death led me to the eulogy he gave at his brother Robert’s funeral in 1969.  In his eulogy Sen. Kennedy quotes from a remarkable speech entitled “A Tiny Ripple of Hope” that Robert Kennedy gave in Cape Town on June 6, 1966 on the “Day of Affirmation.”  Here are some excerpts from that speech – powerful words that may just as well have been spoken yesterday to the current generation of South Africans:

There is discrimination in this world and slavery and slaughter and starvation. Governments repress their people; millions are trapped in poverty while the nation grows rich and wealth is lavished on armaments everywhere. These are differing evils, but they are the common works of man. They reflect the imperfection of human justice, the inadequacy of human compassion, our lack of sensibility towards the suffering of our fellows. But we can perhaps remember — even if only for a time — that those who live with us are our brothers; that they share with us the same short moment of life; that they seek — as we do — nothing but the chance to live out their lives in purpose and happiness, winning what satisfaction and fulfillment they can.

Surely, this bond of common faith, this bond of common goal, can begin to teach us something. Surely, we can learn, at least, to look at those around us as fellow men. And surely we can begin to work a little harder to bind up the wounds among us and to become in our own hearts brothers and countrymen once again. The answer is to rely on youth — not a time of life but a state of mind, a temper of the will, a quality of imagination, a predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over the love of ease. The cruelties and obstacles of this swiftly changing planet will not yield to the obsolete dogmas and outworn slogans. They cannot be moved by those who cling to a present that is already dying, who prefer the illusion of security to the excitement and danger that come with even the most peaceful progress.

Few will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation. It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.

For the fortunate among us, there is the temptation to follow the easy and familiar paths of personal ambition and financial success so grandly spread before those who enjoy the privilege of education. But that is not the road history has marked out for us. Like it or not, we live in times of danger and uncertainty. But they are also more open to the creative energy of men than any other time in history. All of us will ultimately be judged, and as the years pass we will surely judge ourselves on the effort we have contributed to building a new world society and the extent to which our ideals and goals have shaped that event.

It was a call to action back then, and it still is today. A call to not stand idly by to injustice around us, and a call to look beyond the “familiar paths of personal ambition and financial success” and get involved in a positive way in our local communities. Below is an audio version of Sen. Kennedy’s eulogy. It is a stirring speech and well worth a listen:

Sen. Edward Kennedy’s eulogy to Robert Kennedy:

Sen. Edward Kennedy’s visit to South Africa in 1985

And then, in 1985, amid enormous political unrest in South Africa over apartheid, Sen. Kennedy visited South Africa to stand up against apartheid, at a time where most of the West were still ignoring what was happening in the country.  From an article in Global Post this morning:

At the invitation of Desmond Tutu, Kennedy visited South Africa in January 1985 in a trip denounced by the apartheid regime at the time. On his return to the United States, Kennedy introduced the Anti-Apartheid Act of 1985, legislation that sought to impose economic sanctions on the government of P.W. Botha. A later version of the bill – a mixture of incentives and sanctions – was eventually passed by Congress despite the veto of President Ronald Reagan.

In a statement released Wednesday, the ruling African National Congress said Kennedy was particularly remembered for staging a protest outside Pollsmoor Prison where Nelson Mandela was being held at the time. According to the ANC, Mandela said years later that he knew of Kennedy’s presence outside his prison cell and that it “gave us a lot of strength and hope, and the feeling that we had millions behind us both in our struggle against apartheid but in our special situation in prison.”

The ANC said it “will forever treasure the contribution made by ‘Teddy’ in the struggle for liberation and the building of our democracy.”

We owe it to the memory of Sen. Edward Kennedy, and so many others, to honor their legacy and help build the future of South Africa. May he rest in peace.