During the Christmas season 52 years ago, Neilia Biden loaded up her children in the car in search of a modest Christmas tree for their home in Delaware, situated in the northeast of America.

It was an innocent and precious trip for a young family embracing the magic of the season.  

While out searching for the tree, a tractor-trailer struck their car. Neilia and 13-month-old daughter, Naomi, were killed. Her son Beau (four) suffered multiple broken bones, and the other son Hunter (three) suffered a fractured skull.  

Neilia’s husband and the children’s father, Joe, was down in Washington, DC, beginning the transition to his office as the newly elected United States Senator from the state of Delaware. The tragic news came to Senator-elect Joe Biden. He was shocked and devastated. He turned to his faith and what strength he could muster to care for his severely injured sons.  

Joe later married Jill Biden at the United Nations chapel in New York in 1977, and they had a daughter, Ashley in 1981. They made an annual visit to the cemetery in Delaware were Neilia and Naomi are buried. Beau, who sadly died in 2015, is also at rest there.  

Last month, the 46th President Joe Biden announced that he would faithfully serve out the remainder of his term as United States President, but would not seek reelection as he had intended to be. It was both an extraordinary and historic announcement, and one made by one who is rich in character.

President Biden and Dr Jill Biden have been warm and decent public servants for decades. Cornwall actually had the opportunity of experiencing that spirit when the Biden’s visited the county in the summer of 2021 for the 47th G7 summit, where Carbis Bay in St Ives hosted the international meeting.

Now America stands at a crossroads with a weight of challenges at home and around the world. It is still a country comprised of good people and forward-looking institutions. I see this hopeful complexion every day. 

Certain public aspirants align their words with degradation to stir deleterious feelings in cheering crowds. What America and the world desperately needs in order to face today and the future is a tone of decency and empathy from elected officials. Courage to confront challenge or alleviate stress is that much more resilient when surrounded by positive encouragement.  

I understand politics by nature is tense - the search for ideas and solutions is full of different perspectives. But some have consciously mixed a narrative that revenge, division, and anger is the best course to motivate citizens and human beings. That approach certainly motivates some, but it never finds a nourishing place and may lead to violence.  

Whatever one’s party or platform, wherever one is from, whether its Cornwall or Washington, DC, surely we can agree on one core point - in order to bind a more perfect and unified union that we pull from the box of common human graciousness. Those threads are the strongest we have at our disposal. 

As I think of that loving and innocent Biden family who experienced so much loss and grief 52 years ago, I think of their courage to keep moving forward, and the bonds of human decency that aided them along. This decency and civility keeps us all moving forward, and will be the ingredient that preserves the longevity and health of any nation.   

Our Man in the US writer Ian Houston is a regular columnist for the Voice Newspaper. He resides in the Washington, DC area.