Uncle Joe Biden Is So Good At Pulling On Your Heartstrings

Using lessons learned as a young lawyer, Joe Biden gives advice to his younger self.

Vice President Joe Biden (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty)

Vice President Joe Biden (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty)

I am an unabashed fan of Vice President Joe Biden. I don’t care if he is making gaffes, slyly moving President Obama ahead on gay marriage, or talking frankly and earnestly about the losses he has suffered, I will watch what he has to say.

But little has gotten me quite as choked up as his letter to himself as a 12-year-old boy, which he read during a recent appearance on CBS This Morning. He synthesizes a lifetime of heartache and struggle with the strength and love his family provided to give amazing advice, not just to himself, but to everyone out there being pushed down by life. In a particularly moving passage, he uses his experiences as a young lawyer and juxtaposes them with the highlights of his career in public service:

And one day when you graduate from law school, you’ll decide to become a public defender. In the midst of the epic struggle for civil rights, you’ll be walking the streets on the east side of Wilmington, much of which has been burned to the ground, after your heroes were assassinated.

Forty years later, you’ll stand on a train platform of Wilmington overlooking the east side. Wilmington and the nation will no longer be in flames, but awaiting a new ripple of hope.

You’ll be waiting for a young black man — inspired by the dream of a king — coming from Philadelphia to pick you up, take you on a 124-mile trip to Washington to be sworn in as President and Vice President of the United States of America.

Together, you’ll prove that change is hard but necessary, progress is never easy but always possible and things do get better on our march toward a more perfect union.

That’s the history of the journey of America.

And believe it or not, because you listened to mom and dad, you’ll help write it.

Keep the faith, Joey.

Watch Uncle Joe read the full version of the letter to his 12-year-old self, but first grab some tissues. He’ll wait for you.

Joe Biden stuns morning show anchors with a heartfelt note to his 12-year-old self [Daily Kos]

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Kathryn Rubino is an editor at Above the Law. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

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