Until recently, I knew nothing about Ethel Kennedy. But the more I researched both his parents, the more it became clear why RFK Jr is the way he is. Both his parents were humanitarians who dedicated themselves to a life of SERVICE. If you look at some of the videos further down this page, you can see how much humanitarian work Ethel has done in her lifetime. It's pretty remarkable!

In 2014, she won the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

From this page:

Ethel Kennedy

Ethel Kennedy has dedicated her life to advancing the cause of social justice, human rights, environmental protection, and poverty reduction by creating countless ripples of hope to effect change around the world. Over 45 years ago, she founded the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights, which is dedicated to realizing her husband’s dream of a more just and peaceful world. Ethel Kennedy was most recently honored for her longtime advocacy of environmental causes in neglected areas of Washington, D.C. with the dedication of the “Ethel Kennedy Bridge” over the Anacostia River.

Ethel Kennedy receives Presidential Medal of Freedom

What is the Presidential Medal of Freedom?

The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the Nation’s highest civilian honor, presented to individuals who have made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.

Ethel Kennedy has always had a fiery spirit, combined with a lot of compassion for people who need help. She came from a wealthy republican family, but after meeting Bobby Kennedy, she soon became a passionate Democrat who fought hard for human rights. She helped her brother-in-law, Jack, to win a seat in the senate, by holding tea parties, where they rallied hundreds of other women in the community to learn about John F. Kennedy.

I love it that she "stole" a horse that was being neglected and abused, in order to save its life. It was quite a risk she took, given that the potential punishment for doing so was hanging. But if you look at the Kennedy photos on this page, you'll see they are great animal lovers, and their pets were like family. It was worth it to Ethel to take that risk to do what she felt was right. Sometimes, you have to break the law to do the right thing, when the right thing isn't already being done! Luckily, she was acquitted of the charges.

She was really adventurous and good at sports, and she does NOT like to lose! I saw in the documentary, Ethel (part of which you can see further down the page) that she is not the type of grandma who's going to let their grandkids win a game of cards, just so they can feel like winners. Life is tough, and you're not going to do them any favors by not preparing them for that reality, now!

RFK seems to have inherited his Mom's competitive edge, and that has turned out to be a really great thing for millions of people. Why? Because as an environmental lawyer, Kennedy learned that, in order to win a case, you have to do so much research that it's like you're earning a PhD on the subject you're fighting for (or against). Otherwise, you're going to LOSE!

The fact that RFK has it in him to work his butt off and do whatever it takes to WIN, has helped him to win numerous cases against big corporations that were getting away with murder, polluting our land, air, waterways, and the people who have every right to enjoy these things that God / the Universe / Mother Nature gave us. One of the most important traits of a successful lawyer must be that you really like winning, so you need to be prepared and willing to do a LOT of in-depth research to be able to win your case.

He helped sue Monsanto for a record-setting $2 Billion. He helped to sue the corporations that were polluting the Hudson River, and today, there are over 200 Riverkeepers that patrol waterways all over the world, ensuring families have safe, clean areas to fish, swim, and enjoy nature like we should be able to. This guy has worked harder to protect and defend our environment, than all the presidential candidates I've seen in my lifetime, combined!

So I'm really glad RFK got a lot of his energy, tenacity, and a strong desire to win, from his Mom. The woman sounds like a workaholic, and so was her husband, the late Robert F. Kennedy Sr. It blows my mind to see how many interviews RFK Jr. is able to do in a single day. I'd think, "When does this guy even SLEEP?" But then when I learned about his parents I thought, Oh, it's no wonder he's like that!

One more thing I really like about Kennedy is that he was raised to be REALLY TOUGH. His mother was tough on him. In the book "Tales of a Truth Warrior" by Dick Russell, I heard that Kennedy's Mom was like the inventor of TOUGH LOVE. He once called her to ask if he could get bus fare home, and she was really irritated with him because he hadn't informed her of his whereabouts for quite some time. Suddenly, here's one of her 11 kids (the most rebellious one, no less) popping up out of nowhere, asking for bus fare. She told him "Get a job!" For many years, Kennedy didn't appreciate how tough she was, and they were often at odds. But he realized later in life that she actually did a pretty amazing job in raising ELEVEN kids, and making sure everyone got together to eat at the dinner table, night after night. She pointed out that "Everyone takes their licks."

RFK Jr. has said that he knows he was a difficult kid for her to raise. He was rebellious and stubborn, and could be critical of her. But he said that when he was older, one day he was with his Mom on the beach, I think at their Hyannis Port compound, and he apologized to her for being such a pain in the butt to deal with. It was a touching story to hear.

I heard RFK Jr say something about how, after his father was assassinated, his Mom made sure to point out that there are lots of kids in this world who lose their parents, and they don't have the resources or opportunities or support that their family had (sorry if that's not the exact quote but it was something along those lines). I really appreciated hearing that. My Mom was the same way. We grew up on food stamps and didn't have a lot of extra money, but my Mom would remind us of how there were kids in this world who literally didn't have any food to eat. The Kennedys didn't have a lot of tolerance for self-pity. I heard that RFK Jr's grandfather had almost no tolerance for whining or self pity, and if one of the grandkids was behaving in that manner, they had to go outside! Sounds like the Kennedys grew up with a lot of tough love, but it was good for them in the end!

One of the most touching videos I've ever seen RFKJ post is this message for the people in Lahaina, after the devastating wildfires (thanks Lindsey for sharing this with me). In the video, he talks about how his mom told him some things that helped him to cope with the loss, and this is something we can all learn from, so I'll write it down here.

After Bobby's brother Michael died, his Mom shared some words of wisdom. By that point, she'd suffered immeasurable loss, herself. Her husband, RFK Sr., had been assassinated. And both her parents were killed in a plane crash. As Bobby says, she'd become accustomed to grief, and had figured out ways to process it, that was really dignified and admirable.

Bobby asked, when people die, the hole they leave (in your heart)... does that ever get any smaller? And she said no, but our job is to grow ourselves bigger around that hole. And the way that we do that is by incorporating the best virtues of those people that we lost, into our own character, and we build ourselves, we build our character, and we give those people a kind of immortality, because we're thinking every day about how to improve ourselves, by incorporating the lessons of our lives, and the virtues that they displayed, when they were with us. At the same time, we grow ourselves into bigger people. And when we do that, that hole gets proportionately smaller.

I actually got teary eyed reading that, it was so beautiful. You can see Kennedy's full message to the people of Lahaina in this video below. You can also see more of how he helped people in Lahaina, on THIS PAGE.

Robert F Kennedy Jr at HHH Hungry Heroes Hawaii Volunteers Gathering

I remember seeing RFK Jr. had posted a photo of his Mom earlier this year, I think it was either for Mother's day or to wish her Happy Birthday. I found a LOT of other posts, and am including a few of them here.

This is not a post by RFK but I thought it was still worth sharing.

Please check out some of these videos that show what a hard working humanitarian Ethel Kennedy is.

Ethel Kennedy '49, A Life of Service

Ethel Kennedy's story

The Tragic Story Of Ethel Kennedy

Ethel Kennedy takes ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

HBO Documentary Films: Ethel - Trailer (HBO Docs)

1968 SPECIAL REPORT: "BOBBY AND ETHEL'S BABY"

Ethel

From THIS PAGE on People Magazine's Website:

RFK Jr. Paints Surprising Portrait Of Mom, Ethel: 'Her Love Didn't Always Feel Unconditional'

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. reflects on addiction and his complicated relationship with his mom in new book

Sam Gillette

Published on May 18, 2018 04:04PM EDT

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In Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s new book, he reveals that his relationship with his mother Ethel Skakel Kennedy was as complex and fraught as the Kennedy family legacy. While he admires her “exceptional qualities” now, in American Values: Lessons I Learned from My Family, Kennedy writes that for years he was averse to his mother’s “tough love” approach, her hypocrisies, and her tendency to divide “the world into friend and foe.”

“From my angle, her love didn’t always feel unconditional,” the 64-year-old environmental attorney and activist writes. “Her approach was what today people would call ‘tough love,’ for which I proved a tough audience. Her exceptional qualities were mainly invisible to me as a child.”

According to the book, when Kennedy was younger he was “hypervigilant to evidence of maternal hypocrisy,” noticing that his mother’s sometimes “demanding treatment” of her staff was at odds with her advocacy work. (She’s a long-time human rights and environmental activist and is the founder of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights.)

“My mother, Ethel Skakel Kennedy, divided the world into friend and foe,” he writes of his mother, now 90. “Generally she judged the latter by harsher standards, and yet she sometimes discarded time-honored friendships for minor infractions. I faulted her for being mercurial and arbitrary.”

The third of Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Kennedy’s 11 children, RFK Jr. wrote American Values as part memoir and part political history. From his fond memories of growing up surrounded by the Kennedy clan and a menagerie of animals, to the wave of idealism and hope his uncle JFK and father RFK created that came crashing down with their assassinations, the author takes a look at the blessings and pain that came with being a Kennedy.

He writes that his tumultuous relationship with his mother was his fault as much as hers.

“I seem to have been at odds with my mother since birth,” Kennedy, now the father of six kids himself, writes. “Her flurries of temper appeared to me haphazard and desultory, and, of all of us siblings, most often directed toward me. My rebellious nature, and my inclination for pointing out her caprices may have sharpened her disfavor. My involvement with drugs after my father’s death certainly inflamed it.”

After Bobby Kennedy’s horrific death in June 1968, his son used LSD for the first time, according to the book. RFK Jr. was still high when he went into a diner in Hyannis with friends.

“I looked up to see a picture hanging behind the counter of my father, Uncle Jack, and Jesus. All of them had their hands folded in prayer,” he writes. “A pall came over me. What was I doing? My father had been practically a teetotaler, a straight arrow. His personal life was beyond reproach. He had sacrificed his life to a higher purpose, and here I was, high on drugs.”

Despite this momentary jolt, he would eventually become a “functional addict.” In 1983, Kennedy was arrested for heroin possession, according to the New York Times.

“I continuously tried to quit, often stopping for weeks or months at a time,” Kennedy writes. “I switched from one drug to another and occasionally to alcohol over the fourteen years of my addiction, but all of that hopping around was just rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.”

Eventually, Kennedy—who was married twice before he married actress Cheryl Hines in 2014—attained sobriety through the Twelve Step program. He explains that he found a “spiritual fire” that he maintains by finding ways to help others each day.

One year into sobriety, Kennedy writes that he joined his mother on her morning swim. He apologized for “not being a better son.”

“I told her I was sorry for my part in our many conflicts: for the anguish, anxiety, and embarrassment I had caused her; for falling short of my father’s ideals, of hers, and of my own; for failing to be the person whom both she and I wanted me to be. I wasn’t looking for a reciprocal apology from her, and she didn’t offer one.”

In a 2012 interview with Vogue, Ethel Kennedy’s youngest daughter Rory explained her mother’s rigidity.

“She doesn’t reflect back on [difficult] moments in the way that we might imagine, or do ourselves,” she told Vogue. “She kind of forges ahead and moves on.”

According to RFK Jr., over the years his relationship with his mom has strengthened and Ethel is one of the biggest supporters of his work on environmental issues. Now long sober, Kennedy writes that he realizes that some of his mom’s nettlesome traits stemmed from coping with multiple personal tragedies. In the book, he recognizes her kindness, her determination to protect her children, and the full extent of her advocacy work. (In Nov. 2014, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Obama.)

“‘Everyone takes their licks,'” he remembers Ethel Kennedy once telling him. “‘We feel like we ought to be able to write our own scripts to our lives, and sometimes we feel disappointed in God when life rewrites the plot. The key is acceptance and gratitude. We need to practice wanting what we’ve got, not what we wish we had.'”

American Values is on sale now.

Tuesday, August 13, 2024

About Ethel Kennedy - The STRONG WOMAN who helped RFK Jr. learn to be TOUGH... but also be a Humanitarian!