29 years

From: "BUD PETTIGREW" <

Local: Wed, Aug 26 2009 10:00 am
Subject: 29 Years
WOW! Ted Kennedy is dead. I like many people find that hard to believe , even so all the signs said it was going to happen. I could go on and on about all the great works he did for our country. I believe he changed America for the good more than any person in my life time. More than any President, more than his brothers. He did good, thanks Senator.
I think about where he was through out his life. When I was freshman in college, Senator Kennedy decided to run for President. Camolet was going to come back, I was excited. Ted Kennedy was the first of many losers I voted for in my life time. Did that make Ted Kennedy a loser? No, America was the biggest loser because he did not become President. I was just a kid then and Kennedy was the age then I am now. I did not realize then how hard it is to climb that ladder of life. Think about Ted Kennedy. He had a lot of advantages that he was born with. So why work so hard? Most know the arrows that were thrown at him. Deaths of his brothers, his drinking problems. Divorce, not becoming President. The thing I think about is the human side that I shared with him. I like him, like all of us; have their own personal life. Some things you don't want the world to know. Because he was GREAT everything about him was an open book. Everything about him was news, true or un true. I have had negative things about me come out and it is no fun. It happened to him every day. Think of all the stories that were not true about him. It had to hurt, I know it has hurt me when things are said about me that are not true. You want to lash back and get even right away. Time heals but you have scars. Ted Kennedy had a lot of scars, yet it never stopped him from being a GREAT American. That is why he worked so hard.
So what did Ted Kennedy teach me and America more than anything. Well when I was born, America was a segregated nation. His work changed that. Young people today who I complain about a lot for the most part do not care about race or that other nonsense that so many of us knew. In March of 1980 I was playing pool at a college hang out with some friends. One guy was drunk and foul mouthed. Next to us was a couple, a black guy and a white gal, on a date having fun. The Guy asked my friend to watch his language around a lady, just like any one on a date with some they care about would do. . My drunk friend said "any woman who goes out with a nigger is no lady" I was shocked and ashamed but I did nothing. I did not know what to do. I knew a lot of people thought that way. Ted Kennedy did lot to change that. I don't think you would hear that today with out something happening. Because that couple just left. Do you think they would leave now? America is better because of Ted Kennedy. Think how we believed in 1962 when he became a Senator and what we believe now when it comes to civil rights.
So in 29 years when I am the same age Senator Kennedy was when he died, what will America look like? Well the path is lighter now because of Ted Kennedy. It is up to all of us to keep it bright.