Vice President Joseph Biden had a severe stutter as a child and he talked about how this stuttering was one of the defining moments of his life; I heard him speak at a stuttering convention once (listened to the video). As a child he was laughed at, teased with degrading nick names because of his stutter. According to the USA Today when Vice President Biden was in seventh grade (at a Catholic School) he walked out of his classroom, after a nun teased him for failing to read a paragraph clearly because of his stutter, he was ashamed.
Jean Biden (his mom) met her son "Joe" as he sadly returned home and told his mother what happened at school ; Jean Biden drove her son "Joe" back to school and confronted the teacher. Joseph Biden recalled in his autobiography ("Promises to Keep") "I could see my mother pull herself up to her full height, 5 foot 1...my mother, who was so timid, so respectful of the church, stood up, walked over in front of the nun and said, 'If you ever speak to my son like that again, I'll come back and rip that bonnet off your head.' " Jean Biden then ordered her son back to class.
Jean Biden died yesterday at the age of 92 and I was just thinking about the important role that a mother often plays in the life of her kids, especially when those kids developed special challenges such as stuttering or other speech impediments, Tourettes, Down Syndrome, Eczema, hearing impairment, or any other challenges. It is often a mother's love, affection, nurture and sincerity that helped to mold that child with the self confidence that he or she needs to overcome whatever challenges that may come because of the "cards that life dealt them."
Regardless of his politics whether you are republican, democrat, libertarian, independent I think it is fair to say that Vice President Joseph Biden is a man that displayed "Courage Under Fire," time and time again in his personal life: When he had to accepted the responsibility of being a single parent secondary to his first wife being killed in a car crash with his daughter; his sons were injured as well and just overcoming the challenges that stuttering often presents as a child: shame, embarrassment, avoidance and isolation , fear, stress, and anxiety. His story is truly a remarkable experience of how he became a United States Senator and Vice President of the United States after a "war" well fought with stuttering as a child.
What role did your mother played in your life because of the challenges that confronted you? Please leave a comment. Thank you.
Also, here is the linked below in which the Vice President pays tribute to his mother.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8JuHsJD0MI
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