I was on a train when I heard of the death of Teddy Kennedy from brain cancer. It is clear that his death ends the dynasty that dominated American politics (and gossip/glamour) through the twentieth century and finally lays to rest the brothers whose lives were characterised by privilege, duty, public service and violence.
What has interested me particularly, though, is the juxtaposition of Kennedy’s chaotic personal life with his public service. OK, the Chappaquiddick incident was always going to be dragged up in any resume of his life, but there is an uneasy holding together here of the personal deficiencies with the impressive public service achievements. The Guardian put it like this:
‘There are no second acts in American lives’– this dour pronouncement of F Scott Fitzgerald has been many times refuted, and at no time more appropriately than in reference to the late Senator Ted Kennedy, whose death was announced yesterday. Indeed, it might be argued that Senator Kennedy’s career as one of the most influential of 20th-century Democratic politicians, an iconic figure as powerful, and as morally enigmatic, as President Bill Clinton, whom in many ways Kennedy resembled, was a consequence of his notorious behaviour at Chappaquiddick bridge in July 1969.
What is it about some people (usually men) that the drive that causes such chaos personally – and to those close to them – also seems to be the source of the energy that drives them in their public life? Flawed people who change the world. People who evoke disgust at one level, but demand respect at another.
There is a complexity to human nature that refuses to sanitise real life. One of my great heroes is Martin Niemoeller, the German pastor who survived concentration camps and emerged to help lead the post-War German Church out of its shamed Nazi collusion. He was a brave, visionary and wise man – but he also had advocated voting for Hitler in two elections on the grounds that he would clean things up in the seedy Weimar Republic.
We always seem to want perfection from our public servants. We indulge in hagiography when referring to our heroes. We sanitise the bits that aren’t helpful to the image we wish to propagate. And we do the opposite to our enemies – focusing on their shortcomings and contradictions at the expense of the rounded picture which includes their glories.
This is surprising, particularly when Christians do it. The Bible is full of unsanitised pictures and stories of deeply -flawed people who nevertheless become people who change the world in some way. I am fed up with hearing sermons about people like Abraham that ignore his trying to sell off his wife in order to save his own skin. Three times, I think.
Wherever we look, world-changers are flawed human beings. We should just get used to it. Perfection just is not out there. Kennedy’s legacy will now be picked over and his weaknesses shredded for public entertainment. His politics will be regarded by his enemies as forgettable or useless simply on the grounds of his personal flaws. And that will be convenient, if ridiculously stupid.
Perhaps the death of Kennedy might compel us to drop our sanctimonious guff and consider afresh the amazing mixture of raw humanity that, without excusing bad behaviour, at least understands that it doesn’t automatically cancel out the good stuff that emerges from the same source.
August 27, 2009 at 11:24 am
It’s not a matter of seeking perfection in a politician; it’s a matter of non glorifying a man who was, in so very many ways, a disgusting and debauched villain.
Unlike Liberals, Americans are less likely to glorify a creature like Ted Kennedy just because he furthered our agenda. We’re just not that amoral and utilitarian in our thinking.
August 27, 2009 at 12:47 pm
Though Americans may be more likely to vilify a terminally-ill man released on compassionate grounds just because it furthers their agenda.
Or turn a blind eye and trade freely with countries that deny basic human rights and have the death penalty in common, just because it furthers their agenda.
Who said anything about amoral and utilitarian?
August 27, 2009 at 3:19 pm
The American agenda changes every time they do a balance check at the ATM, and depending upon when they had their last fix, whatever that may consist of. They are like rabbits in a lettuce field, it’s all very ‘seasonal’.
August 27, 2009 at 3:51 pm
I really like your comment about Abraham… I don’t profess to have flaws that would excite the media, but the knowledge that God can use us flawed humans, as we are, and as we seek to be better yet still sometimes fail, as somehow encouraging.
No-one should be glorified except God… but we can surely celebrate the good things that come out of a persons life, even if their flaws are well known. Especially at a time when their family and friends are in mourning.
August 27, 2009 at 4:20 pm
I agree wholeheartedly with ramtopsrac on this one.
I think it is admirable and inspiring that someone who so clearly struggled with doing the “right” thing in personal life was nevertheless able to make some positive difference in the world, rather than just giving up.
I wonder if there is a connection between the demand for human leaders to be perfect and the demand for black-and-white, authoritative, simple and context-insensitive rules by which to live?
August 27, 2009 at 4:23 pm
Kevin,
It’s rather impossible to “vilify” a self-confessed villain, assuming you’re referring to the Lockerbie Bomber.
As for who we trade with – what would be the alternative? Sanctions and boycotts that are proven to only harm the poor and powerless?
August 27, 2009 at 5:30 pm
Jonolan
Keep eating the lettuce, and what ever you do don’t take the stars and stripes tinted glasses off, the shock will kill you instantly.
August 27, 2009 at 5:39 pm
I appreciate the comparisons between the flawed and unatainable perfection, which is the state for all of us in this life.
What is so surprising is how some of us flawed people, actually do some real good in life.
Most of this is done in small things, kindness to others, sharing with others, listening to others without giving our opinions, being there for others. Sacrificing something of you for others is one of the small but most valuable things people can give.
It will never make headlines, it will never set the world alight, but God knows and sees the small things – which is of much more value in my thoughts.
There are Saints everywhere quietly doing their small good for the greater benefit of others.
August 27, 2009 at 7:17 pm
I subscribe to your posts via email, and I always feel rather delighted when they pop into my in box because I know it will be more than interesting, and I also know that you will have given the subject some thought, and, I can feel that you are on the human level as well as the soul level.
I guess what I am saying is that I respect and value your opinions and ideas. Mine tend to be jumbled up and incoherent to anyone who exists outside of my brain, which is basically everyone else.
I really do struggle with scripture, I think I have mentioned this before, and I cannot make too many definitive statements about God. What I do know though, is that there is a God who is responsible for the beginning of events, everything else has been a series of links in a chain of reactions. I consider myself to be a direct creation of ‘nature’, which I use in a very broad way of speaking. My mind is nature’s child, largely inflicted with all of nature’s imperfections. My soul is God’s alone, and it is not within the power of nature to ever posses it. I have learnt that if I love my soul, then God will find a common ground in the psychology of my physical mind, and this can be achieved through prayer and meditation which will nurture and strengthen the bond of mind, soul and faith.
Life is always going to be a battle between the nature of your mind and the time you give to your soul. This way of thinking has taught me to look at some of the more difficult scriptures in a new way. Instead of reading them like linear narrative, I have learnt to explore the emotions and reactions they provoke. Even two seemingly hypocritical statements Will take your mind on a journey through the possibilities. Maybe this is the intention for the mind, so it can find its soul.
August 28, 2009 at 8:09 am
I think we need to be a bit more compassionate to Americans here! We are all composed of the deep cultural influences (which in the US case contains an enormous moral compass centred around the struggles of the founding fathers, civil war, puritan teaching and philosophy, the fantastic body of work written to “kick off” their nation) and things we do that are just pragmatic, in the heat of the moment, often against our best judgments, or just because they are the lesser of two evils. Jim’s comment about “a battle between the nature of your mind and the time you give to your soul” is a good way of expressing this.
The value of Nick’s comments, especially about Niemoller, gives a sound basis to an understanding that we CHANGE as we grow, we GROW as we change, and hopefully, day by day, become more and more aligned to the likeness of Christ. This is the plan of God, anyway, both for us, and (dare I say it without my tongue in my cheek) for citizens of the United States also!
August 28, 2009 at 4:19 pm
Thanks for a really thoughtful post, Nick.
King David also comes to mind as a deeply flawed biblical person who God used to do great good.