The student news site of El Camino College

El Camino College The Union

The student news site of El Camino College

El Camino College The Union

The student news site of El Camino College

El Camino College The Union

Commentary: This Generation will miss Ted Kennedy

There is a light that never goes out. Not only is it the title of a song by the British pop group The Smiths, it seems the title of that song can be used to represent one of America’s oldest scions, The Kennedys, but more importantly it represents the recent loss of the last scion, Sen Ted Kennedy, D-Mass, who passed away a few weeks ago following his battle with brain cancer. For anyone born before the ’80s they can appreciate what he represented for the American people. One of the longest serving senators, Kennedy fought hard for tough bills. However when recently asking people in the age group, 18-23 it seemed that anyone born around the mid to late ’80s can’t understand what the death of Ted Kennedy means to our society. A few of them had no clue who he was and others didn’t realize he died, it leaves open an interesting question on what Ted Kennedy means to that generation. On a broader scope one could say that the death of Ted Kennedy means the end of an dynasty and the end of a era, where a person could look and up and say “those are the Kennedys.” What our generation needs to realize, the generation of Facebook and ipods is that Ted Kennedy was more than just a Kennedy, he was the man that named President Barack Obama the new “John F. Kennedy” and even publicly endorsed Obama during the elections, to have a Kennedy endorse a person’s campaign would be like Mick Jagger endorsing a small town rock band. Without Ted Kennedy there would be no lead up to Obama and what Obama ran for: the platform of change. Kennedy was a man about change and a man who found his best moment of his lifetime was being able to throw out the opening pitch at a Boston Red Sox game, now that is a true American and whether our generation realizes it our not, he will be missed but his presence will always be around.

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