I hope that Elizabeth Edwards has been taking an extended,
exclusive, secret vacation in Heaven.
After reading this story and following John Edwards’ trial in the news, I wish her all the peace in
Heaven that she surely never found during her last few years on this
Earth.
If the cancer hadn’t killed her, being married to John
Edwards would have. I want to say that I
feel sorry for Elizabeth, or say that I pity her for being saddled with such a
sorry piece of work as John Edwards. But
I don’t want to say either of those things about her. She would hate that, and I respect her too
much to feel anything for her that would lower her in my esteem. She only deserves to be raised up and
applauded for living that painful remainder of her life with dignity and
grace.
John Edwards is the perfect example of the rule of law. Rule of law, for the unfamiliar, is rule by
law, which means that government officials, even though they make the laws, are
not above the laws. In fact, they are equally subject under the
law as any ordinary citizen. John
Edwards, in his ego-maniacal fantasy land, believed that he could get away with
not only carrying on an affair with a staff member, but also believed that he
could secretly father a child and then pass it off on someone else through
public grandstanding and private lies.
Oh, and he allegedly thought that he could use campaign money to pay for
the whole sordid mess.
What a joke! What was he thinking? Honestly, did he think he could get away with
that mountain of lies? You can only pile
that crap up so far and it crumbles down in a landslide. Idiot.
Today is John Edwards’ judgment day. In his life, he’s faced many judgment days –
when he ran for office, when he admitted to his wife how he’d betrayed their
marriage vows, when his wife filed for legal separation from his pathetic
behind. But this will be the final nail
in his coffin. Though perhaps the jury
will not find him guilty, or maybe they’ll only find him partially guilty. Either way, after the jury renders its
decision, the public’s perception of John Edwards will change once again.
I used to like John Edwards.
He was popular in national politics at a point in my life when I
probably based “liking” him on his sweeping hair line and sparkly blue-eyed
smile. Now I look at that face and all I
see is smarm. It makes my stomach turn a
little.
The problem with John Edwards is that his wife became a
saint. Elizabeth endured her initial
battle with cancer out on the campaign trail, and then when the cancer got
worse, she endured a public scandal and complete humiliation at the hands of
her supposedly loving husband. The guy
actually renewed his vows with her all while carrying the affair in his back
pocket.
Anyway, John Edwards’ sleaze-bag reputation might not seem
quite so sleazy if Elizabeth hadn’t been such a classy lady. Maybe if she was tough as nails like Hillary
Clinton, we wouldn’t be tempted to pity Elizabeth.
In any event, after this verdict is decided, John Edwards
will surely retreat into a private life, one that is defined by media silence
and little to no public exposure. There
must be nothing more that he can say or do, right? If he knew what was good for him, he would
dig into his own psyche with a good therapist, learn how to be a good father to
his remaining young ones – including the one he tried to deny – and hope that
someday, he can be loved by his children for the man he could become, if he set
his mind to it.
I don’t want to hate someone like John Edwards who has so
much potential. In fact, in life, it’s
better to continually try to find the silver lining in everyone and
everything. It makes every day easier,
if you can find one way to enjoy it, some bright light that improves the bad
stuff.
I truly hope that John Edwards can find it within himself to
clear away the past and start over. That
may be the only way that he can redeem himself with his Maker, the Big Guy who
undoubtedly had nothing but warm, welcoming arms for John’s wife
Elizabeth. In the end, John was still
married to her. He owes it to Elizabeth
to do better, from this day forward.
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