Debbi Hixon, the wife, and widow of Chris Hixon, a staffer at the school who died saving students from the gunman, was in the video with her son. Biden greeted the victims and turned away to go begin his remarks to survivors of the shootings, including Debbi, when Hixon’s son, Corey, runs to get a hug from Biden. “I’m Chris Hixon’s wife,” she says, as Joe Biden greets her and then begins to turn away. But as he walks, Corey runs after him and says “I’m his son.” Biden immediately turns and gives Corey a huge hug, and they embrace for seconds and seconds. “Thank you for hugging me. Are you okay?” he asks Corey, who shakes his head no. “You’ll be okay,” he says, giving him a kiss on the forehead and hugging him again. “You’re going to be okay.” The video rightly blew up on Twitter and across social media as a brief clip of humanity and of Biden’s ability to comfort those who have lost their loved ones. But the most important thing to note is that in 2018, Biden wasn’t in the midst of a presidential run. Instead, he was just helping families who had just experienced one of the worst, and most unimaginable, tragedies of their lifetime. The video brings me to tears, not because it’s anything extraordinary, but because it’s what any decent person would do in that situation.
