He was a kind person however. His death does not bode well for the country I'm afraid, but until the collapse arrives let's remember a few good things before everything gets drowned out. Here's one for Teddy.
Ted Kennedy’s “Littlest Refusenik”
Posted by DORIAN DE WIND in
At TMV,
Education,
Health,
International,
Places,
Politics,
Science & Technology,
Society.
Aug 26th, 2009 |
View commentsComments
Only a few hours after the passing of Senator Edward M. Kennedy, there is a flood of stories on the life and the accomplishments of the Lion of the Senate.
The vast majority of the stories are complimentary of the Senator. There are some exceptions. As all humans, Ted Kennedy had his flaws and made his share of mistakes.
I understand that the Senator will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
Perhaps, “the rest of the story,” the recounting of Ted Kennedy’s faults and mistakes can wait till afterward.
For now, I am relishing the stories that are coming out on the Senator’s goodness and compassion.
Some I was aware of, some I wasn’t—such as the one I just watched on CNN.
It is the story about how Ted Kennedy, in 1978, as a young U.S. Senator from Massachusetts saved the life of a tiny baby who was dying in a Moscow hospital.
The baby, Jessica Katz, daughter of Jewish parents Boris and Natalya Katz, suffered from a malnutrition deficiency that stopped her from growing. In essence, she was dying because she couldn’t digest milk products, and no lactose-free formula was available in the Soviet Union back in those days. All she needed to keep her alive—at least for the time being—was that lactose-free baby formula, something that was available in the West, in the United States.
According to CNN.com, Jessica’s grandmother, who had immigrated to Boston, Massachusetts, was bravely campaigning to get her baby granddaughter out of the Soviet Union:
At first she helped urge American tourists to take baby formula to Moscow for the Katz family, and for a little while, it worked. It seemed to bring Jessica back from the brink.
But it wasn’t enough. The Katz family knew they needed a permanent solution — access to doctors in the West.
Because Jessica’s father had been exposed to government secrets, the Soviet government denied her and her parents permission to leave the Soviet Union to seek treatment abroad.
Eventually, the grandmother’s pleas reached Senator Kennedy, and he decided to step in. While in Moscow in September 1978 for a meeting with Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, Ted Kennedy urged Brezhnev “to let the Katz family — or at the very least, Jessica — leave the country immediately.”
Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev was persuaded by Ted Kennedy to allow the family to emigrate to the United States because of Jessica’s medical condition.
The rest is history, but a very interesting and compelling history, that can be read at CNN.com, at “
‘Littlest refusenik’ on Kennedy: ‘He saved my life’”
The “littlest refusenik” is the now 31-year old, newlywed Jessica Katz, who works at finding housing for the homeless in New York City—”Inspired by Kennedy’s life of public service.”
She says: “[Senator Kennedy] saved my life. He could have spent his time doing anything. He’s from the fanciest, most powerful family in Massachusetts, and probably in the country, and he decided to spend his time helping out me and my family.”
There is more to the story of Senator Kennedy’s intervention: some anxious moments and days before the Katz family was allowed to depart the Soviet Union, their arrival and settling in their new country, etc.
For this, please go to
CNN.com.
A video on on this story can be viewed
here.
CNN will air the HBO documentary “Teddy: In His Own Words,” “chronicling the senator’s life from his childhood through his speech at the 2008 Democratic National Convention,” tonight at 7 ET. It includes rarely seen archival footage.
There are many other stories about the Senator’s compassion and charity.
An article by Tom Moroney at Bloomberg. com, “Kennedy’s Compassion, Assistance Endeared Him to Massachusetts,” has a few such stories on consoling families after 9/11; intervening in support and honor of our heroes in Iraq, saving lives and saving jobs, etc.
