MUST-READ: Jean Carnahan thread on how Joe Biden helped her

[highplainsdem]

The thread started with this tweet, and I'll copy the full text of the thread below:

Link to tweet

I worked with @JoeBiden in the U.S. Senate. I’d like to share some thoughts about my time with him. 1/8


I arrived in the U.S. Senate after losing my husband and son in a plane crash weeks earlier. As I stepped down from the platform, where I was sworn in by Vice President Gore, waiting at the landing was Joe Biden. 2/8


Joe had entered the Senate in 1973, weeks after experiencing the loss of his wife and daughter in a car crash. Joe didn’t know me, only my loss during the final days of the 2000 campaign for the Senate seat in Missouri. 3/8


Joe took both of my hands in his and looked me in the eye for a long while before he spoke. He said simply, “I know, I know.” For a brief moment we were two souls joined by a loss that changed our lives. After that, Joe would often pause to ask how I was getting along. 4/8


It was his empathy and encouragement more than that of any of my colleagues, that gave me strength to meet each day. And, yes, I sometimes, got a shoulder pat or even a head kiss. Joe has a deep desire to share in the lives of others---their grief, pain, and joy. 5/8


He reaches out through the human touch to connect and express those feelings. As Mother Teresa said, “People have forgotten what the human touch is, what it is to smile, for somebody to recognize them, somebody to wish them well.” 6/8


Joe has not forgotten this; it’s part of who he is. Like everything else about his big, Irish personality, he expresses those feelings with exuberance and sincerity. 7/8


It’s been said that healing from a loss is like having a pebble in your shoe. It’s always there, but you keep on walking. Joe, keep on walking. Our country needs a little humanity right now. 8/8

[Cha]

1. "Joe, keep on walking. Our country needs a little humanity right now."

That's right. Our country needs a little humanity now!

[BlueFlorida]

8. +1000 nt

[WhiskeyGrinder]

2. It's nice to hear about people enjoying consensual touch.

Mother Teresa was fine letting people suffer, though, so.

[nolabear]

5. I knew somebody would do that.

It is almost impossible today to claim that anyone has done something good without it being immediately brought up that they were really bad. I agree she did some terrible things but the quote was intended to celebrate kindness and diminishing that right out of the gate and without recognition seems cruel.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

6. Interestingly, the quote seems to be misattributed to Mother Teresa.

http://movies2.nytimes.com/library/world/091397teresa-quotes.html

The NYT reported that it was actually the bishop of Calcutta who said it.

[nolabear]

7. That is interesting. I confess I don't know if the order continues.

You don’t hear much about individuals or groups that dedicate themselves to helping the poor and sick any more. Habitat for Humanity. I don’t hear of Doctors Without Borders these days. The groups trying to help the refugees at the border. Maybe the anxieties of the day just overshadow them.

[Cha]

10. Your "WhatAbout" with "Mother

Teresa" isn't working.

[IluvPitties]

17. The world needs more hugs.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

19. Consensual ones, sure!

[IluvPitties]

21. I hope this ia not a 2020 issue.

We will get hammered if we ran on these topics.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

22. Yeah, it's never a good time to talk about interpersonal relations, or how marginalized people

feel about how those with power make them feel.

[IluvPitties]

24. Listen, most people don't have banning touchy feely people as a top issue.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

25. Most people aren't really talking about "banning."

[WeekiWater]

20. .

[Jarqui]

3. Her story made me think of this ...

[mcar]

4. That is intense

Thanks.

[BlueFlorida]

9. A very heart-warming story

and from a republican none the less.

Thanks for posting.

[Cha]

11. Jean Carnahan

is a Democrat

[BlueFlorida]

13. oh ... my apologies

I mistook her as someone else.

[Cha]

18. No worries!

[xmas74]

12. Jean is a Dem

Her husband Mel was a two term governor from Missouri who was killed in a plane crash while running for Senate. She also lost her son in that same crash.

Carnahans have a rep as strong Dems in Missouri, with Robin having served office and Russ.

[BlueFlorida]

14. I stand corrected. nt

[xmas74]

16. No problem.

Remember when everyone joked about Ashcroft losing a senate race to a dead man? That man was her husband.

[xmas74]

15. For those who've never met Jean

she's good people. An entire state mourned with her,both Republicans and Democrats, when her husband and son were killed in that plane crash.

For those who've forgotten, her husband Mel was our governor in Missouri. He was running for Senate when his plane crashed. That day Jean lost a son and a husband. Just a couple of weeks later Mel posthumously won his Senate seat, beating John Ashcroft. After losing to a dead man Ashcroft was appointed AG by Bush.

[Gothmog]

23. I really like Joe Biden as a person--he is a very decent human being

[Gothmog]

26. I like this statement by Joe Biden

Link to tweet