Editor’s Note: I realize I recently reposted this after the COVID-19 death toll passed 200. We approach 400 as I write this. I am posting it again in honor of Inauguration Day, so we remember the character of the man we just elected.
Joe Biden TRANSCRIPT: 5/14/20, The Last Word w/ Lawrence O’Donnell COVID-19
QUESTION: I`m thinking about that quote from theologian Kierkegaard
that you always recite. “Faith sees best in the dark.”
I find it so profound what is going on in America today, with so many
families across this country going through tough times. As someone who has
lost a wife and a daughter and a son and knows what it`s like to go through
loss, what advice would you give to a family who has lost someone to COVID-
19?
Thank you.
BIDEN: Well, first of all, you know, the folks who have recently lost
someone to COVID-19 over 86 – almost 87,000 [Editor: now over 200,000] of them now, they feel like
there`s a black hole in the middle of their chest, they are being sucked
into it and frightened and scared and don`t know what to do.
All I can tell them is that it will take time. But in time, what`s going to
happen is you`re going to find when you think of that son, daughter,
husband, wife, mother, father you lost, you`re going to get a smile on your
lip before you get a tear in your eye, and that`s when you know you`re
going to make it.
And the way you make it, at least in my experience, is so many people have
gone through so much more than I have, losing a wife, and a daughter and
then a son to cancer is that you have to – you have to have a purpose. You
have to have purpose. Purpose will drive you to be able to get – to
control your life.
And the purpose will be many of these people, what do we do to make life
better, better for other people? How could we have avoided what happened
here? What are the things you want to do?
Are we going to do things like making sure those first responders that lost
their lives and those are the remainder who are getting paid essentially
minimum wage, get a fair deal? They`re carrying us on their back. They`re
carrying the country on their back right now, and they`re not being treated
with dignity and respect.
I think the way they`ll find – but right now, that`s no solace to anybody
that recently lost somebody. It`s of no solace.
But what I have to say is they`re still with you. They`re in your heart,
part of your soul, it`s who you are. And you`ve got to have faith the time
will come, the time will come when you`ll get through this veil of
darkness. You really will.
But the best way to get through it is with a sense of purpose and realizing
he or she is with you. They`re in you. They`re part of you.
They never go away, and they`ll advice you and they`ll be there with you.
And you`ve got to move. You just got to get up.
As my dad would say, you know, when you get knocked down, you just got to
get up, just get up.
And think of yourself, what would they want you to do? Would they want you
to do? They`d want you to get up. They`d want you to be safe. They want you
to move on.
That`s all I can really say, quite frankly. It`s of no solace to anybody
who`s recently lost someone, and this has all been recent.
If you are interested, the transcript of the entire show can be found by CLICKING HERE
This is a link to the broadcast, BUT, it requires Adobe Flash Player: http://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/episodes/watch/last-word-5-14-20-episode
Every Wednesday we will be publishing AfterTalk Pandemic Weekly for, we hope, not too long. We invite you to submit your thoughts, essays, poems or songs. Please send to info@aftertalk.com.
