Many people need deadlines to do things that take a lot of effort or are time-consuming. I can identify with them, having had to spend so much time and effort clearing out my parents’ house. This includes going through old papers. It is amazing what you find in places you never would have looked, like behind a drawer. If I had not taken the drawers out of my old desk, I never would have found the papers that had fallen and were lodged behind the drawer. I found things I thought I had lost and items I never remembered having.
Looking at contemporaneous documents is helpful in understanding why things were done in a certain way and the effect on the person years later. There are so many birthday cards, most of which either the sender or the recipient or both are no longer celebrating birthdays. Even cards that were sent to me involve a person who died young and another one whose spouse died young. It is a sobering thought that I am still around to celebrate birthdays, and those people are gone.
Now to my main topic. I have seen Vice President Kamala Harris and Governor Tim Walz on the stump (political events) together and heard Governor Josh Shapiro’s speech at a rally in Pennsylvania. It is becoming clearer in my mind why she did not take Shapiro and instead took Walz. Harris and Walz clearly have a good rapport with each other. Walz’s folksy manner is a good combination with Harris’ more cosmopolitan approach. Walz understands his role. It was reported that he told Harris that he has no interest in running for president. As a result, she can trust Walz that he is doing what is best for them and not for himself. Also, Walz will not upstage her. Shapiro is such a great speaker that he would make Harris look inadequate in comparison.
There were also some Republicans who criticized Trump’s choice of Senator J.D. Vance as his vice-presidential candidate after a rocky start. However, it is clear why Trump picked Vance. He is arrogant, abrasive, an unapologetic MAGA disciple who is loyal to Trump, and is the “attack dog” against Harris and Walz. These are qualities Trump finds appealing.
It’s like a marriage. The test is not whether the potential spouse is the best person in the world but whether they are the best person for you. If one thinks that their spouse married them because they thought that they are the best person in the world, they are deluding themselves. There are plenty of people who are economically better off, more intelligent, and have better attributes. The fact that a relationship does not work out either before marriage or in a marriage that ends in divorce does not prove that the people involved are deficient in these areas. There are some very good people who for some reason were not a good fit for each other. Sometimes it is clear when they are dating but other times it happens years later. We should not look down on such people.
I and many people wanted Harris to take Governor Shapiro. On paper, this was a good shidduch. I would not have taken Walz if I were her. But I am not her. I do not have to work with her choice during the campaign and hopefully for four years after that. They will be spending a lot of time together. Thus, we should take a step back and not criticize her for her choice. We may have heard comments about a couple such as, “we could not have imagined them together in a million years.” Yet not only are they married but they stay happily married. Conversely, we see a combination that looks perfect on paper but when they start to spend more time together, it does not click, or they later are divorced.
The point is not to be so judgmental and think that you know what is best for the other person. What you think is best for them may not be so.
Warren S. Hecht is a local attorney. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
