Sirhan Sirhan had such great aim

"Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."

Thirty-nine years ago today, Senator Robert F. Kennedy was shot in the kitchens at the Ambassador Hotel in LA, following a victory speech spoken after clinching the California Presidential Primary. Over the course of several months, I have developed a deep affinity for RFK and everything he stood for. I routinely bring him up in conversation spouting off random facts such as, "Did you know that RFK had 11 children?" or "Hickory Hill, RFK's estate in Vienna, is up for sale." or "It was RFK that was the great one, not his brother."

I, like many before me (and I presume many that will come after me), am fascinated by the Kennedy's. (Did you know that Joe Kennedy, the father, ordered a lobotomy for Rosemary in 1941 because she may have had a mental illness? The lobotomy was botched and left her in an infantile state until her death in 2005. She was institutionalized beginning in 1949. It is said that Rosemary was the inspiration in her sister Eunice Kennedy Shriver's founding of the Special Olympics.) Through this fascination, my fondness for RFK developed. He was an advocate for peace. His election campaign came at a time when people were tired of fighting a useless war, seeing their loved ones come home in body bags (or not come home at all). It came when emotions were high in regards to ongoing racial discrimination. He was a great advocate for civil rights and poverty was of primary importance.

As with his brother's, we may never know the true motives behind his assassination. Sirhan could have been the only gunman and he could have acted alone without conspiracy. One would think that after nearly 40 years in prison, some kind of clarity as to his motives would surface. Unlike the case with Lee Harvey, I guess we can still hope for answers from the supposed killer himself.

Nevertheless, Robert F. Kennedy was a great man and could have been a great President. Rest in peace.