Will Help America
On my long journey down the yellow brick road of life, Bobby Kennedy has been the single most important mentor. From the early 60s to the present day, I watched, read, and listened to his ideas. His brief political life of less than a decade was a role model for my generation.
Bobby was young, honest, caring, and committed to helping everyone regardless of religion, race, ethnic background, or income. I am still haunted by the way Bobby reached out to all people. He gave two speeches that were moments of exceptional clarity and concern.
Bobby was invited to the University of Cape Town, South Africa, for their Day of Reaffirmation of Academic and Human Freedom on June 6, 1966. Most Americans and the world refer to it as his Ripple of Hope speech.
Bobby and the Ribble of Hope speech
The following are two short excerpts of that speech given six decades ago.
It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped each time a man stands up for an ideal or acts to improve the lot of others or strikes out against injustice. He sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest wall of oppression and resistance.
[Comfort] is not the road history has marked out for us. There is a Chinese curse which says "May he live in interesting times." Like it or not, we live in interesting times. They are times of danger and uncertainty; but they are also the most creative of any time in the history of mankind. And everyone here will ultimately be judged - will ultimately judge himself - on the effort he has contributed to building a new world society and the extent to which his ideals and goals have shaped that effort.
Bobby believes that each of us can send ripples of hope out during dangerous times. Two years later, he spoke at a black supporters' campaign rally in Indianapolis, IN. Just a few moments before his speech, he was told that Martin Luther King had been assassinated. No one else had heard the news.
Two months later, Bobby was assassinated. He isn’t with us today. Nevertheless, we have a mentor and one who has provided us a means of addressing the terrible and dangerous times that we face.
We, as Americans, face a convicted felon as our president. Trump has had a lifetime of grabbing for money and power. As a result, he has had four business bankruptcies: the Trump Taj Mahal in 1991, Trump Plaza Hotel in 1992, Trump Hotels and Casinos Resorts in 2004, and Trump Entertainment Resorts in 2009. This is a list of many licensing agreements with Trump that also folded: Trump Shuttle Inc. in 1989, Trump University in 2005, Trump Vodka in 2011, Trump Mortgage, LLC in 2007, GoTrump.com in 2007, and Trump Steaks in 2007.
Also, there was the Federal January 6 Case (4 counts), the Election Case in Georgia (10 counts), the Classified Documents Case (40 counts), and the Manhattan Hush-Money Case (34 counts). Trump was found guilty in a civil case filed by E. Jean Carroll for sexual abuse and defaming her.
Suppose that isn’t sufficient to disqualify Trump as a good and caring president. In that case, Trump has created more inane problems in America than anyone ever dreamed about in their worst nightmares in his first 100 days.
Beyond Bobby Kennedy, I believe Will Smith’s character, Dr. Robert Neville, in I Am Legend, is a cinematic version of Bobby Kennedy’s mindset. Neville is a virologist working for our Army. A virulent virus had been created in the process of a scientist experimenting with a cure for cancer. The result was the Knippin Virus (KV), which had killed off 90% of the world’s population. Neville is all alone in New York City. Each day, “when the Sun is highest in the sky,” he reaches out to other possible survivors.
Neville is driven to develop a cure for the plague-like infected human mutants called Darkseekers. He has a lab in his home in NYC where he experiments with rats to find a cure for KV. However, the Darkseekers are mutant cannibals, and they want to devour him. He faces overwhelming odds in his attempt to find a cure for the virus, as he faces his death. It is an intriguing duality. And yet, he isn’t deterred in his quest.
The closing scene of I Am Legend is Neville standing off the mutants in his basement lab. He had found a mother immune to the virus and her young child. Neville takes a small vial of her blood, gives it to her, and tells her to stay in a small closet in his basement lab until dawn. Neville has found the cure for the Knippin Virus.
In a previous essay, I compared Neville to Job in the OT and Tom Hanks in Cast Away. Both of them felt alone, yet they persevered in their determination to resolve their problems.
Today, we can learn from Robert Kennedy and Robert Neville. We can be legends and create ripples of hope. How you deal with Trump will determine how you will be remembered.
One brief caveat. Shakespeare wrote centuries ago.
Cowards die many times before their deaths;
The valiant never taste of death but once.
Of all the wonders that I yet have heard,
It seems to me most strange that men should fear;
Seeing that death, a necessary end,
Will come when it will come.
Choose wisely.
Visit the On Seeing the Light page to read more about this topic.
Visit the Connecting the Dots page to read more about this topic.
Visit the Dreaming Dreams page to read more about this topic.
Visit the Darkest Before Dawn page to read more about this topic.
Visit the Best and Worst of Times page to read more about this topic.
Visit the Dancing With Death page to read more about this topic.
Visit the Bobby Kennedy page to read more about this topic.
Visit the My Hauntings page to read more about this topic.
Visit the Living a Life Well Lived page to read more about this topic.
Visit the Gilgamesh page to read more about this topic.
Visit the Man in the Arena page to read more about this topic.
Visit the Mentors and Me page to read more about this topic.
Visit the Donald the Dumb page to read more about this topic.
Visit the Stupid is as Stupid Does page to read more about this topic.
05/07/25