{"id":146,"date":"2009-08-26T11:29:51","date_gmt":"2009-08-26T11:29:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/everydayethics\/2009\/08\/remembering-ted-kennedy-are-we-doing-it-right.html"},"modified":"2009-08-26T11:29:51","modified_gmt":"2009-08-26T11:29:51","slug":"remembering-ted-kennedy-are-we-doing-it-right","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayethics\/2009\/08\/remembering-ted-kennedy-are-we-doing-it-right.html","title":{"rendered":"Remembering Ted Kennedy: Are We Doing It Right?"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n\"225px-Ted_Kennedy,_official_photo_portrait_crop.jpg\"<\/span><\/p>\n

It is seldom that we lose someone of such legendary stature
\nas Senator Edward M. Kennedy. Though the media may try to play up every death as a
\nCronkite or a Mother Theresa, I honestly don’t
\nfeel the need to shed a tear over Michael Jackson<\/a> in quite the same way as
\nI do over the man who fought for decades on behalf of the American people (and
\nin particular the people of Massachusetts) to enact reform and defend our
\nunique American freedoms. I am genuinely saddened to hear of Kennedy’s loss.<\/span><\/p>\n

And yet… and yet… there’s no arguing Kennedy was a flawed
\nman. The mere whisper of the word “Chappaquiddick<\/a>”
\nis enough to conjure up scandal and disgrace. One wants to forget those less
\nsavory moments in the rush to lionize the departed… but is that ethical? <\/span><\/p>\n

I’m not a politico, and while I follow the doings of our
\ncongressmen in the news, I don’t delight in the minutia of their lives the way
\nthe cable TV news networks seem to do. For the purposes of this blog, I’m more
\ninterested in how the flurry over the passing of the larger-than-life “Lion of
\nthe Senate” shows us how we remember, in a more general sense, those who pass
\non. And I must say, there’s a great deal of mawkishness going on over Kennedy
\nthat reflects a greater attitude of glossing over reality that seems to occur when
\nwe remember those who’ve passed. The very word “eulogy” comes from the Greek
\nroots for “eu” (good) + “logos” (word). (I knew those two years of ancient
\nGreek would come in handy someday!)<\/span><\/p>\n

Some argue it’s wrong to speak ill of the dead. I disagree;
\nif the dead were ill people, and we remember only their decent moments, who are we really remembering<\/i>? Aren’t we
\nactually doing them a disservice by allowing them to vanish and be replaced by
\nsome artificial construct?<\/span><\/p>\n

So, what’s the ethical way to approach mourning and
\nremembrance? Orson Scott Card’s great book, Speaker For the Dead<\/a>,<\/i>
\ncomes to mind. In it, Card’s protagonist “Ender” argues for speaking
\naccurately, dispassionately, of the deceased’s life; speaking for<\/i> them, in their voice, as a way to
\nsum up their lives but making no effort
\nto moralize or judge in any way<\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n

As the frenzy to eulogize the late senator commences, I will
\nbe appreciative of those new and fascinating aspects of his life that are
\nbrought to light–and wary of any false halos appearing over his head.<\/span><\/p>\n

How do you<\/u> feel the dead should be remembered?<\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n


<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Subscribe to receive updates from Everyday Ethics or follow us on Twitter<\/a>!<\/strong> <\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It is seldom that we lose someone of such legendary stature as Senator Edward M. Kennedy. 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She attended St. John's College in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she studied classics and philosophy, and then respectfully declined to spend the rest of her life in an ivory tower. Instead, she turned to the life of a writer and editor, penning three romance novels published by St. Martin's Press and contributing features to such periodicals as Cosmopolitan magazine. Her fascination with the moral dilemmas that crop up in everyday life--and the many intriguing ways people handle them--has always colored her writings. Now, that interest is leading her to take the discussion online; where, hopefully, the addition of reader feedback will bring these quotidian quandaries--and their potential solutions--vibrantly to life. When she's not plumbing the ethical mysteries of humanity, her passions include cooking (especially baking), origami, kittens, reading, watching really bad television and playing online scrabble. (And no, she doesn't cheat... much.)","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayethics\/author\/hfields"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/197"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}