two deaths

edward kennedy has died. his body is now proceeding from hyannis port to boston, and he will be buried in the national cemetery in two days.

michael jackson expired a couple of months back amid a flurry of suspicion, accusations and recriminations. i no longer recall his funeral details, except that they were contentious and bombastic, and the eulogies defied belief.

this is a nation of contradictions, that can conduct itself with such quiet dignity for one and prostitute itself so utterly for another, for this, the most final of all our human rites. surely the outpouring of mourning must come from some of the same people?

for the lion of the senate, i agree with hanna rosin, who writes: There are very few examples of true redemption in public life, and Kennedy may be one of them. We don't know if he woke up and thought about Mary Jo Kopechne every morning ... But he certainly behaved like a man foregoing glory for daily penance.

he was, perhaps, a redeemed man; the past forty years would have been very difficult if not. the other, sadly, appears to have been a tortured soul at the apogee of his agony.