end of Joe Biden's 2012 speech on grief

[jlp]

In that 2012 speech, Biden talks about the constant weight of grief. "Just when you think, ?Maybe I?m going to make it,? you?re riding down the road and you pass a field, and you see a flower and it reminds you. Or you hear a tune on the radio. Or you just look up in the night. You know, you think, ?Maybe I?m not going to make it, man.' Because you feel at that moment the way you felt the day you got the news."

 

Biden doesn't end the speech easy. He doesn't say the grief ever goes away. He just says, eventually, it makes room for other things, too.

 

"There will come a day ? I promise you, and your parents as well ? when the thought of your son or daughter, or your husband or wife, brings a smile to your lips before it brings a tear to your eye," Biden says. "It will happen."

 

 

I hope so.  I truly hope so.

[Captains wife]

Agreed. Firstly, it so interesting what triggers reminders of who we lost. For me, it can be odd things sometimes - like seeing his favorite food at the grocery store.

 

I also hope so too re: Biden's speech ending. There are fleeting moments when I have positive memories that make me smile but still at 3 years out I still feel very sad when I think about the loss of my husband and my son's dad. Cant WAIT until I am in that place.

 

 

[Mr C]

In the middle of the speech, Mr. Biden talks about some advice that he got from a former attorney general who was also a young widower.

 

BIDEN:

"He said, 'You know what helped me: start to keep a calendar. Keep a calendar, and every night when you go to bed mark in that calendar whether the day was a 1?which was as bad as the day you heard the news?or a 10.' He said, 'You won?t have 10?s for a long time, but measure it. Just mark it down. After 2 months, take out that calendar and put it on a graph and you will find that your down days are just as bad as the first day. But here?s what happens, they get further and further apart.' He said, 'That?s when you know your going to make it.' That?s when you know you are going to make it, when you realize the measures of your progress, you mothers, you fathers, you husbands, you wives, you brothers, you sisters. That is when you know. That?s when you know I might make it."

 

 

Today was a good day for me to see Mr. Biden's speech in its entirety. I am coming off of a couple days that were 1's and it is so hard to see the light when going through such darkness. Maybe being able to see the progress on paper would make it a little easier to ride out the lows and begin to believe that I am going to make it.

 

Here is the full version of Joe Biden's speech:

 

 

[Lmsmdm]

Here is the whole speech if someone wants to view it.... I remember someone posting it on YWBB....it helped me tremendously.

 

[Kealoha]

Also:  amazing talk at Yale, including how his perspective from the tragedy colors how he works with others. 

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2015/05/31/vice-president-bidens-very-personal-speech-to-yale-graduates/