Who will step up after the death of the lion......

This is a reprint from blogstream August 30, 2009.......

Today was a solemn day.  As I watched the funeral services for Ted Kennedy, I was deeply saddened all the way to my soul.  It was a beautiful and moving service, especially the Ava Maria, and the eulogy.  But the sadness started earlier in the week with the announcement of the death of Ted Kennedy.  A regal giant of a man, Mufasa, had gone on and then there was silence....Loud silence, because there were no voices big enough to fill up the sound of his thunderous voice.  Loud silence, because there are no leaders in training with the charisma, character, and presence to fill the space Ted Kennedy had occupied. Loud silence, because there are no more warriors like him prepared to command the floor of not just the senate, but the steps of the nation on issues that are not popular.  Ted Kennedy, like his brothers, championed many causes that were not popular, which he believed in, and stayed the course to see those causes become living breathing parts of his vision of America. I saw Ted Kennedy as one of the last remaining Civil Rights Champions of our era....and he left work for us to continue to champion, universal health care and equal human rights for gays and lesbians.  In the majestic splendor and beauty of the service, the silence was almost drowned out, for a few brief moments.  Amid the platitudes, accolades, and the eulogy the silence was less loud, but as the service drew to a close, and the weight that Ted Kennedy carried on his shoulders was spread among the attendants at the service, again the silence grew loud.  Because, who will step up to take up his cross.  These are unpopular issues.  These issues make people uncomfortable, because they challenge one group’s right to access at the expense or to the detriment of other groups.  I thought to myself, civil unions verses marriage is the equivalent of separate but equal, Plessey v. Ferguson.  I thought to myself when his son spoke about universal health care how we can all pay taxes but our taxes cannot be used for all of us. And I thought to myself about the little boy - who is now a man, speaking about how there was nothing better in the world to him as a child as to have his father turn all of his attention to him.  His father, like Mufasa was a stately and loving lion.  The son called out, much like Simba in the Lion King, somebody, anybody, help me. Who will step up to lead these causes, after the death of the Lion, in my lifetime?