As I write this, the coffin of Senator Edward M. Kennedy is on its final journey to Arlington National Cemetery for interment beside his bothers, John and Robert. A year and a few days ago, he made a short journey half-way around the Pepsi Center to the podium from which he would give a rousing speech in support of candidate Barack Obama at the Democratic National Convention. He rode in a golf cart, smiling and blowing kisses to admirers, who knew that the end of an era was coming. Kennedy had already been diagnosed with brain cancer, and few had expected him to appear at the convention, let alone speak -- and do so with fervor and eloquence. As they say in show business, the Senator brought down the house. Today, a rainy day in Boston, under the vaulted ceiling of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Basilica, a Mass of Resurrection was said for the Senator, the wealthy scion of a Boston political dynasty who fought for social justice and equality for all.President Obama, who was the last to speak, concluded his eulogy to his former colleague with allusions to this last journey. The Senator, said the President, is gone, "leaving those of us who grieve his passing with the memories he gave, the good he did, the dream he kept alive, and a single, enduring image — the image of a man on a boat; white mane tousled; smiling broadly as he sails into the wind, ready for what storms may come, carrying on toward some new and wondrous place just beyond the horizon. May God Bless Ted Kennedy, and may he rest in eternal peace."
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