Tags
asthma, Joe Biden, Joseph Biden, loss, presidential candidates, Presidential election, stuttering
I have a lot of problems with Joe Biden, but I like his experience with suffering. I’m not kidding.
Biden grew up with so little money that he and his immediate family couldn’t afford their own home and had to live for years with his grandparents. He was asthmatic and a stutterer. He lost his first wife and their baby daughter in a car accident, and one of his sons died from brain cancer.
Pain and loss can make a person hard and cold: “I suffered through hard times to success, and anyone else who wants success should get ready to do the same thing.” Or it can make a person empathetic: “I suffered through hard times to success, and I don’t want anyone else to endure that kind of agony.”
I think Biden’s experience has made him empathetic. I think it’s also toughened him. Toughness and empathy are a good combination in a president.