Bobby Kennedy spoke to millions both here in America and overseas about the need to improve the lives of the
poor, the dispossessed, and those discriminated against. Back in the 60s, he was able to project a better time
for millions both here and aboard. He and his brothers talked about Camelot, which was in juxtaposition to the
real world for most of the people in the world. Camelot will remain an ethereal dream unless we work toward
getting all of us closer to Camelot.
Those issues drove Bobby throughout his life, especially during the civil rights movement in the 60s. Randy
Pausch in his Last Lecture,
essentially said the same thing, “We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.” Instead
of complaining about our cards, we all need to play what we possess in our endeavor to move toward Camelot for
all people.
Having danced with death, I realize that I must leave this world better than I found it. I cannot afford to
waste time and neither can you. We are all here for a finite period of time. Bobby’s life was cut short, but his
legacy lives on after him. Bobby said, “Every generation inherits a world it never made; and, as it does so, it
automatically becomes the trustee of that world for those who come after. In due course, each generation makes
its own accounting to its children.”
We will all leave a legacy, which is how people will remember us. Choose wisely. Bobby taught us by his actions
and words what his legacy was and calls all of us to leave a legacy of caring for those in need.
This video is of Bobby speaking to a large crowd of blacks in Indianapolis, IN. He announced to the crowd the
death of Martin Luther King by an assassin.
Sadly, two months later, Bobby was assassinated. Despite the problems facing America in the 60s, Bobby spoke
caring to a country, which all too often didn’t care. That was a half century ago. Here we are again living in a
country divided over the same issues of our past: racism, poverty, and indifference to the needs of the
powerless. However, those in power in Washington are concerned about acquiring more power and more money. They
are discriminating and attempting to build walls. We all need to learn from the past and move toward Camelot.
