The Lessons of John Edwards

Not much new news these days. I imagine some folks will harp all over John Edwards for having an affair, or, worse, keeping it a secret. I'm not going to make an issue of it here.

Why should I be, we're all prone to making mistakes.

Yet, after what happened to Gary Hart in the 1980s, and the way Bill Clinton nearly lost everything twice by secrets he kept, you'd think a person with such baggage over his head would think twice about running for President.

Think of how disastrous this kind of scandal would have been had Edwards actually been the potential nominee instead of Edwards. Or, worse, think how devastating this would have been for Obama had he selected him as his VP.

While Edwards says he's going public here because he wants to end the onslaught regarding this by the tabloids so his family can move on, I imagine a partial reason is that he wanted to make sure Obama did not select him.

We're going to be reading about this in the news for the next several days, and then it's going to make a blip on the history books, and then we'll all but forget this incident. But the days of seeing John Edwards as a viable candidate for any political office are more than likely behind him.

What we can learn here, is that if you want to run for public office, you need to think twice about allowing that second woman in your life. If you are married, you need to keep your wife a top priority in your life. And if you do have an affair, don't lie about it.

It seems this is one of the first Biblical lessons we learn as we are growing up. Edwards has admitted, in certain words today, that he had an elitist attitude and figured he could get away with anything. I respect him for being so honest.

I have never been partial to Edwards political POV, but I do think he is a good an honorable
man who wishes the best for his family and his country. I wish he and his family all the best as they try to move on.

I think this is a perfect example of what I wrote about a few weeks ago (read keeping your priorities in the right order), that we all need to learn to keep our priorities straight. When Edwards put another lady before his wife, and then lied about it, he became humiliated publicly.

I'd like to say I hope no other famous people come to shame by infidelity, but that would be wishful thinking. When famous men and women are on the road a lot, the temptation is always out there.

I'm sure that Edwards would be happy if only one other person learned from his mistakes.

Keeping your priorities in the right order

For Obama and McCain, politics is still not their number one priority. At least that's what one might hope if they know what's good for them.

A patient and I had a discussion about "priorities". It was what seems like ions ago now, but there was one thing she said that I will never forget.

She said, "In life, if you don't have your priorities straight, nothing ever works out. If you you do not have your priorities straight, you will not succeed in your life."

She put her thumb up. "This is God. He is your number one priority. This pointer finger is your wife. This middle finger is your children. The ring finger is other people. And, least but not least, this pinky finger is other things.

"Now," she continued, "If you get these priorities out of place, nothing seems to work properly." She placed her thumb between her pointer and ring finger. If you place God after your wife and before your children, you can't grip anything." She placed her thumb between the middle finger and ring finger. "If you place your thumb here, you still can't get a grip on anything.

"See," she opened up her hand, and gripped mine with hers, "the only way you can really grip things, have control of the things in your life, is to put your thumb before your other fingers. God, in essence, is like your thumb. If you have no God in your life, nothing works right.

"The same is true if you get other things in your life out of proper order. You must love your wife before your children, and love your children before other people. But you must always put other people before other things."

I told my priest about this before I was married, and he loved it so much that he used it during our wedding ceremony. Not only that, but he told me he also used it during Mass.

So, that in mind, I thought I would take the time to list the priorities in my life. Perhaps you might do the same -- just for fun.

1. God (however my relationship here is private)
2. My wife
3. My 2.5 children
4. My parents and siblings and nieces and nephews
5. My aunts and uncles and cousins
6. My friends
7. My co-workers
8. My love of country (sure, I'd fight if I was asked)
9. My job (way down here)
10. My Column (it doesn't provide the benefits)
11. My home (without the above I would not have it)
12. Family entertainment
13. Sleep
14. Golf
15. Baseball (I love this sport, particularly the Detroit Tigers)
16. Football, Basketball, Hockey
17. Reading (which includes the news and any books)
18. The Respiratory Therapy Cave
19. Reading medblogs
20. Freadom Nation and politics
21. Reading political blogs
22. Material things

It's important to remind ourselves of these priorities, because when they get out of order, things simply do not work, as I learned quickly after I was married when I had to move golf way down on the list, and had to quit collecting baseball cards.

However, I've found a way enjoying cards vicariously through my son. If I buy him the cards, I find that my priorities stay in the right order.

So you can see why this political blog and blogging tends to take a back seat to all the other "things" in my life. While I love blogging, and reading blogs, I can just barely squeeze the little bit I do into my packed schedule.

The only thing I didn't list here is health. There's this old saying that the Customer Comes First. I always debated against this old theory, considering that if I'm dead, the customer would have no one to talk with.

Therefore, I suppose one might put health at #2. However, I think you'd be justified in putting your wife and kids before your own health. You know the old saying: Women and children first. It bodes well.

This is just a thought anyway.

I'm flawed, and occasionally I do get things out of order. And every time I have to suffer the consequences of doing so. But since I know of the importance of prioritizing, things usually get straightened out in the end -- so far.

But, you know, I see people every day who don't seem to have their priorities in order. I see this every day when I turn on the TV and learn about women like Winona Rider who put material items before other people. She ended up in jail you know.

Or the famous people who get divorced because the husband put some other woman before his wife, or vice versal. And sometimes we read about divorces that were the result of one person putting money before his spouse and kids.

My wife and I have to remind each other when we don't have our priorities in order. She grumbles sometimes that "All you do is sit at the computer all day."

Right now, for example my kids are sitting on the couch while I'm doing this, and I feel guilty about it. So, as you now understand, I have to go.

Happy Easter to all my valued readers

I would like to take this opportunity to wish my valued readers a very happy Easter.

I have taken the past week off from reporting here, but I hope to get back to it very soon. We here at Freadom Nation are a little burned out from work as an RT, and we will be loafing around this Easter Sunday, the earliest in 95 years, and hope to get back into the swing of things tomorrow.

This blog is my #2 priority behind my Respiratory Therapy Cave blog. So, when my family allots me one hour on the computer (the modern boob tube), I usually report there first, so if you really want to know what I'm up to, you can check over there. Sorry, though, I try not to talk politics on my other blog.

Like you guys, I love politics. I try not to just focus on things that you can just read about on other blogs, or other media outlets, but rather I like to analyze the news and report at an angle you might not get anywhere else. Mostly, this is my thinking blog and, if I do a good job, I get my readers to think too.

Now, I understand that you guys aren't going to agree with me on everything I write. I understand that when I review history here, you might rather believe what you read in the New York Times as opposed to what I think is a more accurate history. That's fine. If you want to disagree with me, then we can at least have an intelligent discussion.

Intelligent discussion. That was the purpose of me starting this blog. My wife tries to stay away from politics, and I tell her that that is a good idea. And my nine-year -old son wants loves to have intelligent discussions with me, but I absolutely refuse to discuss much of what is politics with him. My reason there is I want him to learn to think for himself.

He asks me on a daily basis who I'm going to vote for for president.

"I'm sorry, Jordan, I'm not going to answer that," I say.

He smiles and changes the subject. "Let's play a game."

I understood my parent's value system, but neither my mom nor my dad told us kids who they were going to vote for for president, nor what political affiliation they were. It wasn't until I was in my early 20s when I started to put two and two together. My mom grew up in a strictly poor democratic family, and my dad tended to lean more conservative, yet not nearly as conservative as the William F. Buckley Jr crowd.

I have five brothers and one sister, and my sister, like my wife, tries to stay away from politics. Four of my brothers agree with me on most of the issues of the day, so what fun is that. My youngest brother is a true Independent who told me his is having trouble deciding between Obama and McCain. I have some good discussions with him, but I try to be fair in our discussions as to not offend him nor sway him.

That's real life. Even at work, where I have many opinionated co-workers and patients, I tend to try to avoid politics. I usually smile, listen, and agree or disagree, yet rarely do I let these people know my opinions.

For example, just the other day I had a patient who was stressed because she had to go for a scope of her lungs in a few hours, and I was watching Fox News with her. I thought since she was wathcing Fox that she'd be a republican, but I found I was wrong. And she said, "I don't like Obama, and I don't think McCain has a chance of winning."

"So," I said, "Who do you like." I thought she would say McCain.

"Oh, I like Clinton."

"She has a good chance of winning," I said. I wanted to be politically correct. I know that she is stressed out as it is, and if she can go into that surgery thinking good thoughts about her favorite candidate rather than fearing that McCain will win, then I have done a good deed.

See what I mean. I am unable to have a true intelligent discussion throughout the course of a normal day in my life. I occasionally do manage to slip one in, but not enough to satiate my needs. So that's why I created Freadom Nation.

So, that leaves Freadom Nation as my sole place of escape, a place where I can write about whatever is on my mind, be it politics, history, philosophy, or whatever. This is my home. And when I started it I thought I'd be writing only to myself, but I seem to have found a small following, and that's cool. You guys bring joy to Freadom Nation. Even you guys who disagree with me, you get me to think, and that's good -- right. We get each other to think.

Just for the record, I try not to be stubborn on any single issue. And, in the past, I have been known to change my mind from time to time. Hopefully, you guys are equally open minded. I wish, and hope, that our politicians are the same way.

I also have been slacking on my reading of other blogs lately, but, as I've mentioned before, I have to prioritize my time, and you guys, however great your blogs are, get put behind my other responsibilities: God, Wife, Kids, other people, other things.

For now, I'm avoiding politics, avoiding history, avoiding reading up on my philosophy, avoiding reading anything that might get me thinking, and I'm enjoying a day with my children and my wife. I'm enjoying the day God has set aside for us to celebrate his gift to us.

So, that in mind, I have to get off of here now. I have to cuttle up with my little girl in front of the TV. I have to turn off my Detroit Tiger spring training game and spend the rest of the day with them.

I hope you all have a great day, and I hope to hear from you soon, and we can get back to making each other think.