R.I.P. Senator Kennedy

As a flawed individual myself I honor his service to country and find inspiration in his devotion to family.

I went to the polls for the first time when I was 18.
My older brother could not vote when he was 18.

Senator Kennedy was a long proponent of the 18 year old's right to vote. He demonstrated his support in his testimony in front of the Subcommittee for Lowering the Voting Age to 18. During his testimony he stated: "Long ago, according to historians, the age of maturity was fixed at 21, because that was the age at which a young man was thought to be capable of bearing armor. Strange as it may seem, the weight of armor in the 11th century governs the right to vote of Americans in the 20th century." Senator Kennedy continued to support this initiative until it was realized with the signing of the Twenty-sixth Amendment on July 5, 1971.

This legislation made the lyric from the 1965 Barry McGuire song "Eve of Destruction" outdated.

The eastern world, it is exploding
Violence flarin’, bullets loadin’
You’re old enough to kill, but not for votin’
You don’t believe in war, but what’s that gun you’re totin’
And even the Jordan River has bodies floatin’

That third line expressed the inequity of a time when men and women under the age of 21 serving our country did not have a voice on election day.

"…the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."

May God's blessings be upon us all.