Bobby

This movie Bobby is not getting great reviews, but I will go to see it in any case. The assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King marked the beginning of my political awareness as a child, and so that era remains of intense interest to me.

In my morning paper I just read an editorial by David Brooks of the New York Times. He talks a bit about the movie and more about a book that shaped Robert Kennedy's world view to a considerable extent—Edith Hamilton's The Greek Way, a book of essays on ancient Athenian history. Brooks says that this book was Kennedy's constant companion on the campaign trail. He notes a passage that Kennedy had marked for repeated reading:

"Life for him was an adventure, perilous indeed,
but men are not made for safe havens. The fullness of life
is in the hazards of life. And, at the worst, there is that
in us which can turn defeat into victory."

Brooks does not say who this quote was in reference to, but I think it is notable that it got Robert Kennedy's special attention, and I think it applies wonderfully to Darin as well. When I was a child, I enjoyed Edith Hamilton's writings on Greek myths for children, but I think I will have to seek out more of her writing. This is what I'm thinking about as the anniversary of Darin's passing approaches.

Gisele
December 2006