Not A Bad Year

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Given the history of the Kennedy family I gotta' think that when they all get together they look back and figure:

"All things considered, 1963 wasn't a bad year."

Seriously, think of it. JFK, Robert Kennedy, Ted's late night swim, the ski accident, the rape, JFK Jr's. plane, and now RFK's son's wife hanged herself because he was such an ass to her and she drank too much and the demons finally won.

And I suppose that every single family across the land has had some bad stuff happen, but man they know how to get it done there, right?

All spectacular, crazy...you gotta' read this...sort of drama.

JFK was blown away before I walked on the planet and I certainly don't recall the circumstances of Bobby's death or Ted's drunken night of death, but like everyone else I've read a lot about all of them.

And you know what?

They all seemed to be guys I wouldn't have liked very much.

Very self-entitled, very rude, very self-indulgent, way too much freaking money, and really sort of crass and uncaring.

All right, maybe not JFK Jr. He seemed like a decent enough guy, but flying your own plane?

Geez, didn't we learn nothing from John Denver?

The news accounts of Mary Richardson Kennedy's death are pretty shocking and galling and whatever else you can pull from the thesaurus of adjectives.

She was being pushed out. She was a drunk, a louse and didn't adapt to her husband's cheating ways very well. He was fighting her for custody, for the house, and for her dignity. He wasn't going to stop the assault until she collapsed under the weight of the burden of her life.

She did.

And like all of the other Kennedy stories we can't really be sure if that's the truth. I'm sure that there will be ten stories of love for every story of hate. He said, she said is ridiculous when it comes to anything to do with every single Kennedy, hyphen or not.

And we watch.

Think of it, what other family in American history has garnered this much attention?

It's not even close.

Assassination?...two of those.

Drowning?...got it.

Rape?...allegedly.

Plane crash?...tragically.

Ski meet tree?...football on ski's?

Death by hanging?...wow.

Who woulda' thunk that Ted was the sensible one?

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