"The work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives,

and the dreams shall never die"

THE TEDDY MOST NEVER KNEW

But for Chappaquiddick, he most certainly would have been a President of the United States. What kind of President? Ultra-liberal to be sure. Heavy on civil rights, human rights and on social programs, much in the same manner as his brothers.

What the name Teddy Kennedy will conjure up is largely a manifestation of your political views. For conservatives, Chappaquiddick will overshadow everything. For liberals, their post-seventies memories will focus on a lifetime of public service and as the family patriarch of the Kennedy family; the glue that held them all together, through unprecedented heartaches.

What many do not know is the childhood young Ted, the youngest of the clan was subjected to by a family obsessed with over-achievement and perfection. A childhood spent in the shadows of brothers smarter and more handsome, and ultimately more successful. Ted was the victim of parental low expectations from early on, and how could he not be considering the powerhouse siblings he followed.

Ted was never an outstanding student (he received numerous letters from his mother Rose in regards to his proper use of English), never as driven as his other family members, and perhaps his biggest Kennedy cross to bare...pudgy. As driven as the Kennedy family was to perfection, they were equally driven to paint a picture of a happy, healthy athletic family, and Ted just never fit the picture in any way.

So when I think back towards the perils of Uncle Teddy, and there were many......I like to think of his troubled childhood, the monumental grief and loss he experienced, and the total tonnage of expectations that were heaped upon him. Expectations and a troubled childhood that were the precursors for his bouts with drugs, alcoholism and womanizing that were made on a very, very public stage.

When I think of Teddy Kennedy, I choose to remember a lifetime spent in the Senate championing the causes of the little guy and the disadvantaged; health care for all, curing education issues, and fighting for equal rights for all minorities, despite the pressure he surely received back in his lily white Massachusetts. This is especially true for his work on immigration, not a favorite topic with the Irish Catholics in the boroughs.

Remember what you will. I choose to remember one of the larger than life figures in the history of the United States Senate, and someone who made a demonstrable difference in the lives of millions.