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Sir: Senator Kennedy says: "I feel the tragedy of the girl's death. That's what I'll have to live with. But what I don't have to live with are the whispers and innuendoes and falsehoods."
Oh, but he does; the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune are one of the facts of life, just as are slanted communication media, and to say that he doesn't have to live with them points sharply to lack of emotional and mental maturity.
There is a good deal of chatter about whether the Senator needs his mother to wipe his nose; with all due respect to Mrs. Rose Kennedy, isn't it possible that it is not the Senator's nose which needs her attention, but his perspective?
MRS. HENRY EGGERDING Belleville, N.J.
Sir: Senator Edward Kennedy today has made a slight revision in the magic 1961 inaugural pronouncement of his brother, John F. Kennedy: "Ask not what I have withheld from the people of Massachusetts, but what they can overlook for me."
(MRS.) KATHERINE GAGE QUINN Phoenix, Ariz.
Sir: I am appalled that 823 of your readers felt it was their place to pass judgment on Senator Kennedy's action. Perhaps your readers have never experienced an emotion called shock. It is not the place of one human being to judge what degree of shock another should or can experience, or to judge what the response to an unexpected, tragic situation will be.
I find it difficult to accept that anyone in Mr. Kennedy's political situation would deliberately jeopardize his entire political future by acting as he did; had he not experienced shock at the time, could his actions have been deliberate? I am sure every reader must answer "no," or re-examine his ability to reason.
VICKI FREED Doar Na Hof Ashkelon, Israel
> Be that as it may, 1,817 readers to date have voiced an opinion; 1,230 generally criticized the Senator and 587 expressed forgiveness and/or confidence.
Silver Lining
Sir: For several years I have disliked the public images of Mr. William F. Buckley Jr. and Mr. Gore Vidal [Aug. 22]. At last, it seems, these men's special gifts and inclinations command a bit of admiration—not for what they are, but rather for how they are being used. Buckley may rid us of Vidal, and Vidal may rid us of Buckley.
HANS BEACHAM Mexico City
Sir: Re your comment in the Buckley-Vidal story: George Sanders didn't divorce me, I divorced him.
ZSA ZSA GABOR Washington, D.C.
> True enough. Sanders filed to divorce Zsa Zsa and she then cross-complained, whereupon the judge ruled "ladies first" and granted her an interlocutory decree on April 1, 1954.
One Man, One Vote
Sir: Whenever a language expert begins pushing "standards" of English usage [Aug. 22], he is actually telling us what his standards are and what biases he holds concerning the language.
Fortunately, each of us holds exactly one vote in determining how the language shall be used, and there ain't a damn thing that Goldman, Barzun, et al., can do except bitch about it.
DON FARE Associate Professor of Education Stephen F. Austin State University Nacogdoches, Texas