To Dr. Jill Biden, Former First Lady of the United States

Dear Jill,

I am writing to you as a woman, a wife, a mother and a fellow American. I cannot begin to express the level of admiration that I have for you. In a very small way I am much like you. I too was a teacher but I only reached the level of a Masters degree in my education. I truly appreciate the hard work that it took for you to earn a PhD all while raising a family and following your husband on his political journey. I know that your love of all people and your devotion to our nation will always be remembered with gratitude.

Right now you and I are on yet another similar journey. Both of our beloved husbands have been diagnosed with prostate cancer. While the love of your life has a much more advanced stage than mine I nonetheless can imagine the concern that you are feeling at this moment. I have also experienced so many questions about how my husband’s cancer came to advance as far as it has. It is as though people somehow expect us as wives to notice things early enough to rush our men to the nearest doctor. Of course hindsight is always twenty twenty and surely everyone understands that we would like nothing more than to catch the cancer in its earliest stages. 

I know that you will deal with the journey that lies ahead with grace. It is the way you always are but sometimes in this life we are asked to carry such heavy burdens that it almost becomes too much to bear. I admire your courage but also pray that you will know how much we all love you and your husband. The two of you took us through some of the darkest and most frightening times of our nation’s history. Sadly the response of far too many Americans has been to find fault with you and President Biden every step of the way. I cannot imagine how you bear up under the unfair criticism that comes from having to live so publicly. I truly hope that your journey in the coming months will afford a modicum of privacy without analysis while your husband fights to end the cancer that has invaded his body. 

You are a truly good woman and role model no matter what anyone says. You have endured great sorry and incredible successes along with President Biden. The present moment of our nation is so wrought with anger and lies that you must sometimes feel exhausted. I feel certain that history will nonetheless judge you and your husband to be just the panacea that we all needed during the dark times of Covid 19. I began to breathe more easily as soon as Joe was inaugurated and I loved seeing the two of you so lovingly interacting with each other and the American people. You brought joy to a sorrowful time. If not for the jealousy and vindictiveness of Donald Trump the many lies about you and your husband and your family would never have occurred. I am so so sorry that these terrible things happened to you even to the point of poking fun at your doctorate. 

I do not understand how we have reached this watershed moment in our country’s history. I will never comprehend why good people are thought to be bad and evil people are judged to be good. Up is down and down is up. There seems to be no sense to the sorrows of the world or the anger that is breaking our nation apart. Of all the times it has to be particularly difficult to you and President Biden because much of your lives have been dedicated to the people of the United States. How can it be that in the midst of so much turmoil and so many lies that you must also walk with your husband while doctors attempt to save his life. 

I know that President Biden is a deeply religious man. I believe that God will hear his prayers. I know that you will do whatever you need to do to protect him and help him to heal. I will be thinking of you as I too begin an uncertain journey with my husband. I will think of you each day that I sit in a waiting room while he receives his treatments. I will think of you when the days become long and uncertain. You will be in my thoughts and I will be asking God to shower his love on you and Joe. Both of you have served our nation so well and so unselfishly. Nobody will ever convince me that you are anything but a model of kindness and compassion. If you get angry at the invasion of your privacy I will understand and defend you. Somehow you have walked through fire over and over again with grace. May God be with you and with President Joe Biden. May you know that there are many of us who love you and wish you the best. 

Yours, 

Sharron Little Burnett