R.I.P....Elizabeth Edwards
When I was about 20 years old, I had a pretty close relationship with one of the top "players" in the game. When we became fast friends, he had four steady women. Each held their own general purpose. There was one that he said stood out from them all, and he called her a thoroughbred. When he said it I leaned back, wrinkled my nose, and asked, "What's that?" He said that she's the woman who goes with you all the way. She's there when the chips are down; no matter what. You can cheat on her, steal her money, use her and abuse her, but through it all she'll be there. I see these kinds of women in the old and new Baptist Church. Most women, however, aren't thoroughbreds. Most men don't have the occasion to have one in his life. When a man finds one, he is a blessed man, especially when he's a big "player". Most men don't intentionally hurt the woman he loves, but nurtures and keeps us. A real man doesn't need but one woman, so the story goes.
At some point, however, a man gets a little weary. A new woman may come to work looking good, he meets a stranger in line at a grocery store or a woman just comes into his presence he cannot resist! Most men would dismiss the chance encounter as fate. "Two ships passing in the night". Some, however, would see it as an opportunity that cannot be missed. Unlike my friend who was honest and true with his ideas of what women are for. These men lie about their true attachment to these other ships that were suppose to pass them by, let down their anchors and stay for awhile. In some cases, little buoys are left in the aftermath. This is a thoroughbred's worst nightmare.
We give all we have, and we support your every whim. We love you, and give you the rope that is long enough to catch your dreams, but while you are out there, you forget your way back home. Now I need you. I need you to be strong and tell the world that you love me, and only me. I might be sick, dying or not sure about my way. I want you to now stand by my side and be my strength, but you are not there. I'm forced to face the world alone. This includes the heart wrenching shame you brought on me. Maye they say I'm crazy, unable, unstable and alone. Still I have sworn my alliance to your cause. I give you 100% back, even when the whole world said that you were inept and had no reason to have this cause. It was me that allowed you the room the to be the man you needed to be. While you were discovering you, you discovered someone else. I thought my love was enough, and I was your biggest cheerleader. When you found the wrong way, I counseled you and told you where you were wrong. I was your friend and you were the closest friend I knew...So I thought, but when the chips were down, I couldn't depend on you!
Now, I'm alone to fight my battles and the foes that are our enemies. Even if you find yourself wrapped in something you barely even know. The shock that a man could be so cruel and not understand the hurt and pain that you feel is so startling. I think it's because they don't believe that it's true. Men can never believe that something is actually made for you. Oh, how I wished I could tell you how much God is going to love you for all your love and sacrifice. The way you gave all your love and gave such a large portion of your life. Even if he can't see that he really had a partner, and woman carved out for him, who was meant to be his wife.
So in your death, angel that you are. The lessons of life ever changing is what you will teach the world all about. Your service to the hard things in life. The parts of love that no one wants to talk about. The part where the great man of true love don't know a thing about. I think that Toni Braxton said it best in a familar song, "...Why do men think that loves just for the moment, not all the time?" To disgrace the woman who believed in you, loved you and held you up as a great man for all the world to see. Then you hold her up in shame and disgrace for all the world to see. I'm not sure if love knows such boundaries as to relent to such embarrassment. For Ms. Edwards it did not and she turned her back on the man, who had turned his back on her. To that I say, "Bravo! Ms. Edwards"
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I saw John Edwards at his wife memorial service, and he was the acting like a politician. He smiled and shook hands like the narcissus he is. Taking the time meant to mourn the woman he scorned, and made it a circus. I'm so glad that in her sickness and before her death, she denounced the man that he had become. Like in her living and breathing life, I could see her standing and shaking her head at his display.
They had protesters at the service, and it's the first time I'd ever seen people picket the funeral of a Vice-President candidate's wife. It was either a publicity stunt put on by him to reap sympathy and attention from the event, or with all the controversy from the affair that they began to look into her views and opinions. Either way, it has been brought on by what he did to her. Making her a current event and tabloid news during the worst time in a person's life; their painful, inevitable death. She was fighting for her life and fighting for her dignity at the same time. Something no woman should ever have to do. They had lost a son, she had bore him two children in her later years. This along with his grueling schedule and dinners, campaigns and just plain old life she gained weight. She was no longer the petite attractive woman he married, but she still was all the support he needed.
He actually got caught going to see his mistress by a tabloid television show. All of this while he denied his own child, and shamed his devoted wife and other children. I once said that he would end up with this disgusting and shameless woman. Who seemed to have more power over him than LOVE. Now he wants to wait until his wife's death is far enough from the American public's mind. At that point, he'll begin an assent to the same level of public fame, and might even make an attempt at public office. After he has put his top aid and his wife's marriage in jeopardy by saying his child was his. Sending him on a trek through this country, with his eccentric and looney whore. Taking illegal money to aid her living lavishly and lying all the way.
John Edwards is not a good man, he's not a good friend and his horrible husband. In leaders, it's true they all have their faults, but when the chips are down they should not fail us. In a bind, John Edward failed his friends, he lied to the American public and left his wife to die in shame. Even in her death, his actions brought shame to her legacy. I think we as Americans should do what the one person on the face of this earth who knew him best did, and turn our backs on him. Just like he turned his back on her.
How do you begin to measure a man? You begin to measure a man by his everyday activities. How does he handle his wife, his home, his friends and his job. John Edwards has shown us that he handles all of those things with reverent disregard for any care, respect or dignity. A man should love his wife as he loves himself. If that's how he loves himself, then he is in big trouble and if he led anyone or anyplace in this country, he would show the same propensity to lie, cheat, steal and cause harm to their status, worth and reputation. When the chips are down, could he come to this country's aid, help us, support us and make thing alright? He couldn't do it for his wife and she was dying. He made a vow to serve her, too. If he didn't do it for her, how could we ever expect him to do it for us?
John Edwards is weak, sorry, vulnerable, shameless, a liar and a backstabber!
Elizabeth Edwards for all of her sacrifice was a woman of valor, strong and deserving of so much more, and so is America.
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