Friday, June 06, 2008

Remembering Bobby

Robert F. Kennedy, Jan. 3, 1965 – Jun. 6, 1968

As a young girl I remember paging through LIFE magazine's tribute to Bobby in pictures and words. My family kept the magazine until dog-eared, creased, and faded, it fell apart years later. But the memories remained.

One of my favorite RFK quotes:

Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital quality for those who seek to change a world which yields most painfully to change.

Moral courage, to dare to love without shame, rejecting the pressures of conformity, led me to come out as a lesbian a few years after the summer of 1968. I relished the freedom of being true to myself until confronted with the hard reality that indeed the world "yields most painfully to change." Yet, I moved on and thrived. Hopefully, the world will too.

Rest in peace, Bobby.