It would be easy, and not unwarranted, to mark Thursday’s 50th anniversary of the Chappaquiddick incident by reviewing in excruciating detail all the ways that night that then-Sen. Ted Kennedy failed his duty as a decent human being.

Maybe we can go deeper, though, and let this anniversary of the accident be the last one receiving major retrospectives. Maybe we, too, can act with good judgment by letting this awful story rest once this week ends.