Page 7 - Seniors Today - February Issue

children had been out Christmas shopping he said, “I think empathy is a critically
when they were broadsided by a tractor
trailer. Neilia and 13-month-old Naomi
were killed instantly, and Joe’s other two
children Hunter and Beau were rescued
and hospitalised. And it is in the hospital in
January 1973 that Joe Biden was sworn in, by
his sons’ bedside. For months afterwards he
commuted daily by train from Delaware to
Washington DC, so he could be close to his
sons. [1]
Empathy, the defining trait
Now serving as the 46th president of the
United States, Joe Biden is a member of the
Democratic Party who served as the 47th
vice president from 2009 to 2017 under
Barack Obama and represented Delaware in
the United States Senate from 1973 to 2009.
Despite his initial unwillingness to serve,
Biden remained in the Senate and public life,
turning his grief into a way to connect with
others through empathy — a trait that has
perhaps most defined his career. And now,
even nearly 50 years after the death of his
wife and daughter, empathy remains at Joe
Biden’s core.
Having dealt with unthinkable family
tragedies, once, while on a talk show with
Stephen Colbert (late night host of CBS’s
“The Late Show with Stephen Colbert”),
Empathy is the trait that has perhaps most defined the
career of Joe Biden
SENIORS TODAY | ISSUE #20 | FEBRUARY 2021
important thing. It does not make it easier
to talk about because you’ve been through
it, but when you’ve been through it and you
talk to people about it, they go, ‘OK, I know
he or she understands, because they’ve been
through it’,” — and that is what defines the
46th President of the United States!
[2]
After suffering another personal tragedy
while serving as vice president — the loss
of his eldest son Beau Biden to glioblastoma
at the age of 46 in 2015, Joe Biden addressed
the nation, “When you lose a loved one,
the ‘firsts’ are always the hardest — the
first Christmas, the first birthday, the first
anniversary. I know from my experience
how little words can mean at such a time,
but I know, as hard as it can be to believe,
that time does heal. Grieve. There’s a reason
to grieve. But there will come a time, remind
yourself, just be reminded that the time will
come when you’ll think of your husband,
wife, son, daughter, mom or dad, and you’ll
get a smile to your lips before you get a tear
to your eye. That’s how you know you’re
going to make it.” These words came from a
[3]
heart that has weathered storms and created
a largesse so very full of empathy.
Giving family priority
Joe was born on November 20, 1942 in
Scranton, Pennsylvania. He studied at
the University of Delaware and Syracuse
University College of Law. Several years after
losing his first wife Neilia, he married Jill.
Dr Jill Biden, who holds a PhD in education
and is a lifelong educator, currently teaches
at the community college in Northern
Virginia. Of his four children Beau (2007-
2015) was Delaware’s attorney general who
served as a major in the 261st signal brigade
of the Delaware National Guard and was
deployed to Iraq from 2008 to 2009. Hunter,
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