Column: With Special Olympics, Eunice Shriver changed world
August 10th, 2009
By Mike Lupica in the New York Daily News:
Go to her web site today and listen to that Kennedy voice with all its hard angles, from a Special Olympics ceremony from 1987, in South Bend, Ind., saying the things she has said across the last four decades of her life:
“The right to play on any playing field? You have earned it. The right to study in any school? You have earned it. The right to hold a job? You have earned it.”
Then her voice is rising, the way her brothers’ voices rose in moments like this when they were running for office.
“The right to be anyone’s neighbor?” Eunice Kennedy Shriver says. “You have earned it!”
… In her own way, she fought for people unable to fight for themselves the way her brothers did.
… In her own way, Mrs. S. did exactly what her brothers set out to do. She changed the world.
See also:
- Report: Eunice Kennedy ‘minute to minute’ — Boston Herald
- Schwarzenegger cancels appearance at energy summit — AP
- Shriver getting well wishes from Special Olympians — AP
- Special Olympics honors ailing founder Eunice Shriver — Boston Herald
Earlier posts here.
(Photo from Boston Globe)
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August 11th, 2009 at 9:01 am
Gentle thoughts and deep gratitude to this torchbearer who helped illuminate the causes of segregation, justice, inclusion, civil & equal rights for individuals w/ intellectual differences.
She took what she learned from her sister Rosemary’s experience and worked for a true diversity that doesn’t segregate based on intellectual difference and includes all of us.
My deep hope is that we can honor her by continuing her work and ending the segregation that continues to be alive & well. Her work continues until all people are treated equally, not one lesser than another; no “us” and “them,” rather “we.”
Her speech from 1987 Special Olympics:
“The right to play on any playing field?
You have earned it.
The right to study in any school?
You have earned it.
The right to hold a job?
You have earned it.
The right to be anyone’s neighbor?
You have earned it.”
May the grace she’s given surround her and her family; my son’s life would not be the same without her.