Editor’s Note: A longtime journalist, Margo Howard went into the family business (her mother was the fabled Ann Landers) in the 1990s as Dear Prudence. Her broad experience and understanding of human nature provide answers for the troubled — and entertainment for everyone else. Margo’s advice column, Dear Margo, appears twice a week — on Thursdays and Fridays — on wowOwow.com.

The word is "inclination." It popped into my head seeing and reading all the Kennedy coverage. This is not a piece about Ted Kennedy, per se, however. It is about us. What started me thinking was an editorial cartoon I saw that showed the bottom of a huge statue. It was identified as "Ted Kennedy’s Legacy." A very small sign was dangling off the bottom of the "statue." It said, "Chappaquiddick."

The dialogue I had with myself went something like this:

Why did the cartoonist find it necessary to include that?
Well, it was something that did happen and was a huge stain on EMK’s reputation.
But why, looking at the big picture and thinking of a great legislator’s accomplishments, did it have to be mentioned – particularly in a single frame drawing, and at the time of his death? 
I guess because the artist thought the incident on the Dyke Bridge would always be associated with EMK’s name and deserved to be remembered.

And then the word "inclination" occurred to me, and it answered all my questions … about a lot of things. We are inclined to see things and people in a way that conforms to our thoughts and beliefs. Just to use Ted Kennedy as an example – because his death is now what’s on everyone’s mind – it seemed quite clear that how people felt about him before his death would determine how they thought about him at his passing. Those who never cared for him, or the family, would of course incline toward diminishing his remarkable achievements; they would be the ones unable to forgive his faults and to gloss over his triumphs and generous heart. Those who recognized a legislator of extraordinary courage and talent would be inclined to overlook his weaknesses, of which there were many. Many people cut him some slack for the tremendous sadness and staggering losses he endured; others focused on the booze and broads (and Chappaquiddick) because they didn’t like him/his family/Democrats in general.

My own feeling is that Kennedy’s acknowledgment of his own destructive behavior was what motivated him to literally shape up and have his life’s work count for something. I think that for many years now he has been doing penance; basically that his extraordinary contributions and devotion to family were meant as atonement. And I believe in second chances. In any case, the idea of "inclination" makes all the different responses to his death more understandable. And I will try to hold that thought for when the next divisive issue comes up.