A cartoon strip that raised up Biden

Joe Biden is known to have pulled himself together through a cartoon by American cartoonist Dik Browne that his father gifted him every time he had personal tragedies. He lost his first wife, daughter and son.

Hagar, the red-bearded Viking character in the cartoon, is stranded on a rock in a violent storm as his ship sinks, lashed by thunder and lightning. “Why me?” he shouts up at God. And God replies, “Why not?” It is a short advice to accept life’s difficulties. 　

Piers Morgan, a journalist from the U.K. currently working in the U.S., introduced the story of Biden’s family and a story between himself and Biden five years ago in an article on Daily Mail on Saturday when Biden’s victory in the presidential election was confirmed. 　

Morgan wrote about the tragic death of Biden’s eldest son Beau, former Attorney General of Delaware and a promising young politician whose path to the top political circles was almost sealed, died from brain cancer at the age of 46 in 2015. He is known to have asked his father to run for presidency right before he died. 　

“I own you. I hope I can repay the debt someday,” Biden said in a phone call with Morgan who he hadn’t met in person. “Hug those kids of yours, Piers,” he said when Morgan said that Beau’s death is a terrible loss not just to Biden and his family but to America.”


jyr0101@donga.com