Win One For Teddy, Pass Health Care Reform

America lost a genuine hero and champion of everyday people with the passing of Senator Ted Kennedy.  Teddy showed us how much we can achieve when we refuse to succumb to personal failings.  It's a known fact we can be our worst enemy and the biggest hindrance to personal success. But Teddy after experiencing so many bumps in the road, recovered to become maybe the greatest Senator in the history of the United States. His many detractors unwittingly may have been his biggest motivators.

Teddy had a problem with alcohol abuse and who can blame him after having to deal with the loss of all his brothers and a sister early in his life.  What an awesome burden?  I think I can cut him some slack.  Yet I am amazed that so many people with weaknesses (that would be everybody) hold Kennedy and others like Michael Vick to hypocritical standards that lack empathy or compassion.

A major lesson we can learn from Teddy's life is never delegate responsibility for personal success or failure to others. This week as television fed us a steady diet of Teddy's successes and failures, I couldn't help but think about Senator Jim DeMint's proclamation that "passage (or the lack thereof) of health care reform would be President Obama's watershed moment." If DeMint was paying attention, surely he came to the realization that life and political careers are full of watershed moments. Using DeMint's rationale, it could be said that health care reform is a Teddy Kennedy watershed moment as well. But given the obvious respect and affection that Democrat and Republican lawmakers had for Teddy, I hope they will put partisan politics on hold and pass a comprehensive health care reform bill.  What better opportunity exists to solidify the legacy of a friend. The "Gipper" aside, I hope they do it for Teddy.  May he find rest from his labor.