At 78, Joe Biden lifts us out of 2020 malaise
Like millions of Americans, I’ve been listening raptly to Joe Biden’s speeches and interviews since election day. Hearing the passion in his voice, his hope, his vision, I’m left with only one conclusion:
This man actually wants to be president!
This has come as a surprise. All along, I thought he was in it at the behest of others, that he was a reluctant candidate doing his patriotic duty. I figured that, like the rest of us, he’d rather be lying on the couch watching baking shows, pretending none of this was happening.
But no, it’s clear now. Joe Biden, who turned 78 Friday, when he could be happily retired in Wilmington, Del., has chosen to undertake the most stressful job on the planet. With enthusiasm.
So, that raises the question, what’s our excuse?
Let’s face it, most of us have sunk into lowlevel despair and selfpity since the pandemic lockdown began. It hasn’t helped that we’ve been bombarded with messages about the importance of hunkering down, maintaining mental health, lowering expectations, cutting ourselves plenty of slack — mentally, emotionally and otherwise. Schools have been going easy on grades, workplaces have adapted to slower outputs. Banks are letting bills slide. Consider this a lost year, has been the mantra.
Well, Biden did not get to be presidentelect by practicing selfcare, puttering around the house with sourdough starter and houseplants. And he is practically an octogenarian! I am ( many, many) decades younger and I constantly complain how my back hurts, I’m tired, I need to “take it easy, for a change.” I see now that I’m actually just lazy, enabled by the mental health industry.
Maybe it’s time we collectively got off the couch and stopped indulging in pandemic malaise. This global funk is not going to improve — climate change will not reverse, the crooks will not leave Washington, social justice will not prevail — if the entire population is playing “Words With Friends” and eating cheesecake.
I have a few friends who’ve been extra active, campaigning for underdog candidates or doing ambitious home repair projects. Writing screenplays, learning español. But most people I know, myself included, are deep into inertia. Why bother doing anything worthwhile, when the future is so relentlessly bleak?
Perhaps Joe Biden would tell us, that’s exactly why we have to get off the couch.
Another thing: I never want to hear an ageist remark about Joe Biden again, especially from someone who’s been in his or her pajamas since March and been whining about “the COVID 19.” That includes you, Gen Z. Biden has shown a level of stamina and resilience that most people couldn’t even imagine. He endured untold inanities from the outgoing president and his minions, ran a yearlong campaign via Zoom, won the support of nearly 80 million voters, and crafted detailed policies aimed at saving humanity. He even shared a debate stage with Tulsi Gabbard. How many snarky Millennials could pull that off?
Biden campaigned on ambitious platforms intended to heal a fractured country and save the planet from catastrophe. But to me, he’s been a symbol of something more personal: the importance of getting up every day, casting aside ennui and aching back complaints, and thinking big. Thinking of the world beyond the kitchen table. Biden would tell us to stop doom scrolling at 3 a. m., and focus on highminded goals that require spending energy, not conserving it.
The next four years will surely be a jumble of victories and frustrations, but Joe Biden will always be a winner to me. He got me off the couch and feeling optimistic for the first time in you know how long. And by Inauguration Day, I might even give up cheesecake.
I never want to hear an ageist remark about Joe Biden again, especially from someone who’s been in his or her pajamas since March.