Much is being made about the great personal battle Edward 'Ted' Kennedy waged in his fight against the cancer which killed him.  This he could not defeat.  He was, however, given deserved adulation for his untiring efforts - even to the calculation about his replacement as Senator from Massachusetts He certainly was deserving of titles, such as the Greatest Liberal of our times.  He fought for those who had no voice to speak for themselves.  It is curious that so many Americans have not learned to speak up for their own causes, and sometimes work against their own interests...  Their complacency is alarming and this speaks to the sad state of our 50 State systems of Education which rely on spurious testing in order to fail teachers and schools instead of backing the cause of reestablishing American education as the best in the world.

Our schools were once great.  Our industrial model was once copied the world over.  Greatness does not last.  People like the Kennedy's are rare.  Our athletic heroes and heroines last but a season or two.  The latter are sensations to the multitudes that need extraordinary feats to inspire and entertain. 

The Ted Kennedy's are rare for they become the voice of multitudes that have no power of their own.  The "greatness is their selflessness".  They work for the betterment of all, especially the weakest and those that have the greatest need. Kennedy was not born a great man.  He overcame his family's notoriety and his own short-comings, especially the shame of Chappaquiddick. He became over his years in the senate a great compromiser and an exemplar in trying to reconcile wisdom with obdurate positions cemented in undeserved moral authority.

Then, again, 'greatness' does not generate spontaneously. Great personages get to their elevated positions by standing on the shoulders of those who came before.

I thank this "great" man for speaking for me, too. Perhaps we will soon

Get a nationwide health care system like other industrialized nations or, at least, the same benefits received by our government's Executives, Legislators and Judges.  Let them show some greatness and create the system Ted Kennedy worked so selflessly for.

            Additionally let us acknowledge the greats (although ordinary people we have known) who made our lives better and they had no idea their example and hard work inspired those whose lives they touched.