When you heard about his cancer, did you immediately think, "how long does he have?" I did. In fact, I went online to find out more, including the prognosis.
I've never paid much attention to him, outside of him being a Kennedy and everything that goes with that. I grew up during the Kennedy years (Jack, Bobby, Teddy...) and so there is some nostalgia associated with a Kennedy always being a player on the scene my whole life. But that's not why I went online.
It was good to see the picture of him with his family in the hospital this afternoon, dressed, looking healthy and all of them smiling. This is a family that knows how to handle bad news. But again, that's not what I went online to find out.
I went online to find out how long he had to live. Why?
I'm going out on a limb here. I'm guessing I'm not that different from most people. And mortality gets my attention. My mortality.
So really it's all about me, but maybe not in a bad way -- it's good to be reminded you're going to die. It's only going to happen once, and you don't know how you'll react or feel when it comes or when the threat of it comes. And it makes the living that comes before that seem more important, as it really is.
When Jesus told Peter how Peter was going to die (John 21), Peter then asked Jesus how John was going to die. Jesus basically said it was none of his business. 'What is that to you? You follow Me!'
It's universal, no one escapes, yet it's unique for each of us. Only yours is your business, so you wonder -- What's mine going to be like?
Maybe I'm trying to get a clue from watching Ted Kennedy.
Comments