My father served in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in World War II. I did not learn about his dangerous missions behind enemy lines until I was well into middle age. His missions were classified until then. He took that seriously and never spoke about his exploits, saying, when asked about his service, “You don’t want to hear about that. How about we all go for ices?” (Or pizza, or ice cream, as the mood struck him). When I sent for his records from Washington, I was floored. But, even after his courageous exploits were declassified and authors and film directors and history buffs came to call, he never bragged. He always gave credit to others, whose service he admired and respected.
He married the love of his life, my mom, and had four daughters and a son. When my mom went into a deep depression after having delivered her four daughters and miscarrying twins (before my brother), he stood by her and, with the help of a great neighborhood doctor and many small acts of kindness, he pulled her out of it. Later, when we were grown, he saw to it that she could get to St. Patrick’s Cathedral twice a week to sing in the choir, as he understood the joy singing brought to her life.
Although money was tight when my sisters and I graduated high school, he helped us to get a college education and we became teachers, nurses, administrators, lawyers. He was a man who respected women and supported women.
His motto, as told directly to me: “When you’re down on your luck, find a guy in even worse shape and help him out. Your luck will change.”
So, what does this have to do with Joe Biden?
Very simply, decency. Joe Biden is a decent man with a plan for our country based on our true values of inclusion and kindness, and his adversary, this president, is not. I cannot vote for a man who dodged the draft and then had the nerve to disrespect those, including John McCain, who did serve (“I like people who weren’t captured”).
I cannot vote for a man who disrespects women (“I grab them by the pussy”) and who pays off porn stars and other unfortunate women because of his affairs conducted while he was married to his three wives. I cannot vote for a man who boasts and brags (“only I can fix it”) and denies the advantages provided by his rich father.
I cannot vote for a man who put children in cages, who rewards his rich friends with positions they are not fit to occupy, who formed a bogus charity and a fake university. I cannot vote for a man who has hidden his tax returns and his college transcripts. I cannot vote for a malignant narcissist when I was raised by a self effacing, true hero, a working class union man who was kind and empathetic and, above all, decent.
I am my father’s daughter and I am voting for Joe Biden.
(Jean Monteleone Prabhu is a Dongan Hills resident.)
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