One scene that stirs my passion more than most any other scene in the world is the long white rows of uniform gravestones at Arlington National Cemetery. Round-top white rectangles run like stitches against green lawn, stretching, it seems, as far as the eye can see, following the contour of ground that gently rises and falls. Nothing speaks more profoundly of sacrifice for a cause. Most of the names on the headstones are not recognizable to the public at large. The first among them died in the Civil War. There are celebrities among them: John and Robert Kennedy. And now we will add to the family plot the body of Edward "Ted" Kennedy. Hallowed ground, to be sure. If you've never been, plan to go. Visit it, ideally, on some late and chilly November day when the eternal flame at President Kennedy's grave flickers in the developing winter wind. Think of how we did not shy from a world crisis during his presidency, and how we have survived long after. I know some Americans will object to the belief that the Kennedys belong in such an honored place. There is so much hate in this country, and it blinds so many. It is a product of gut-level likes and dislikes, of thoughts spoken without thinking. Like their daddies before them, these are people of the gut, and the gut is full of bile. A quick factual reminder to those who might miss the point: Joseph Kennedy, Jr, died in what many World War II pilots would have considered a suicide mission; John saved his crew of PT 109; Robert died during a campaign predicated on ending a war that split America and left its heroic young men and women to wipe spittle from their faces., metaphorically if not literally. Rich and flawed as they might be, the Kennedys have served this country. They could have lived a life of leisure and avoided all of this, the death and the invective. But they jut forward, inexorably. I think of how their luminescence shines light on the many others at Arlington whose names are unknown to the public at large. Even in death, they embrace the others who have sacrificed. I am so surrounded these days by people who have never sacrificed or proven themselves but have secured cushy and influential jobs due to family relationships. Few of these families have done anything of notable merit or public service; they are simply the products of an insular and inbred culture that looks out for its own. Such is the nature of a society that doesn't even know six degrees of separation, culturally inbred as it is. So, when I look to the Kennedys and see their wealth and position and yet their sacrifice, and realize that they could have taken advantage of privilege and inclusion and never have sacrificed anything, I am in awe. For those who know privilege without any sacrifice, I say enjoy it while you can. You will leave no legacy; you will remain anonymous to the ages. Thanks to those who need not do anything, but have sacrificed so much for others, whether your name is Kennedy or "unknown."