FALLING GRACEFULLY, WOMBAT STYLE

I just finished reading about John Edwards' decision to continue his presidential campaign despite the recurrence of Elizabeth Edwards' cancer. For those of you who can't keep track of all of the Democratic candidates out there, John Edwards is the young cutie who is earnestly vowing to wipe out poverty in the US. My first reaction was to shriek 'You loser!' at the charming photo of him. Admittedly, it was the knee-jerk reaction of a married woman. The old, "I would kill my husband if . . ." But then I took a breath and thought about it.

It's doubtful the majority of voters will listen to anything John says that doesn't pertain to his wife's illness and his reaction to it. If he stays in the race he's a dog, if he drops out he's a quitter, if he spends too much time thinking about it he's ambivalent . . . And what about Elizabeth? Shoulder on and shake hands with voters? Stay home and cherish every minute with her young children? Silently blame herself if this illness costs John a boyhood dream?

This unfortunate couple has my sympathies. Whichever road they take will doubtless be wrong in the eyes of unforgiving voters; we're not very nice to people brave enough to run for public office. Let's try to show respect for the Edwards family. They don't need any judgements passed on them.

How does this pertain to wombats (Women's Mountain Bike and Tea Society) you may ask? It doesn't. But Pilar, a member of the organization, wrote a great article about learning to fall.