Been watching The Kennedys TV mini-series the past few weeks and finished the last episode this morning. Don't know why exactly but found it fascinating, the portrayal of John Kennedy's younger brother Robert Kennedy especially. I followed my older brother's suggestion and read the prologue to Evan Thomas' Robert Kennedy - His Life and found it also to be quite intriguing.
Added to post
Thought about it some more and thinking the fascination may have been nothing more than the entertainment that a good story (mixed with conspiracy) brings. There were a couple of memorable things in the TV series and prologue to the book which stood out though. Firstly, the portrayal of Robert Kennedy as a morally and religiously upright individual whose faith takes a knock and shouts out "Why, God" upon hearing news of his brother's murder. This didn't register so much with me at the time but when I got a painful and incapacitating infection earlier this week I found myself thinking the thought "Make it stop God, please" and thoughts went back to how subconsciously scornful I had been. Secondly, the extreme hiking and rafting adventures Robert Kennedy is reported to have engaged in in the later years of his life; commentators alluding to possible guilt he carried for not having served a greater role in the World War than he did. Lastly, a few nice quotes below taken from the Robert Kennedy wikipedia page attributed to the man himself:
"Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly."
"Few men are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of their colleagues, the wrath of society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital, quality for those who seek to change a world which yields most painfully to change."
"Men without hope, resigned to despair and oppression, do not make revolutions. It is when expectation replaces submission, when despair is touched with the awareness of possibility, that the forces of human desire and the passion for justice are unloosed."
No comments:
Post a Comment