You don't have to be a Joe Biden supporter to admit that what the veep did for one kid years ago was downright awesome.
Branden "Skip" Brooks took an eighth-grade class trip to Washington, DC, back in 1994, where the students had a Q&A session with then-Senator Joe Biden. Brooks asked Biden a question during the session and Biden noticed the student had a stutter. Afterward, Biden, who had a stutter himself when he was younger, gave Brooks some advice on how to overcome it, and later, sent him a personal letter.
On Wednesday, Brooks, who's now a lawyer based in St. Louis, Missouri, and works for a Christian nonprofit, took to Twitter to share the moving note.
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The letter read:
Dear Branden,
It was a pleasure meeting you yesterday. You are a fine, bright young man with a great future ahead of you if you continue to work hard.
Remember what I told you about stuttering. You can beat it just like I did. When you do, you will be a stronger man for having won. Also remember, every time you are tempted to make fun of someone with a problem, how it feels when you are made fun of.
Treat everyone with respect and you will be respected yourself.
Your friend,
Joe Biden
The VP replied to Brooks, tweeting, "And it's still true today, my friend. Treat everyone with respect and you will be respected yourself."
While it's been more than two decades since the field trip, Brooks still remembers the moment Biden offered some encouraging advice. According to Buzzfeed News, the now-vice president explained that he had participated in as many public speaking opportunities as possible to overcome his stutter.
"Biden pulled me aside saying that he used to stutter as a kid and that he never let it interfere with his life goals," Brooks tweeted.
Brooks took the politician's advice. He went on to attend law school and became a prosecutor in 2008, even being sworn in by Beau Biden, the vice president's late son, who was the attorney general of Delaware at the time.
Brooks said he's still moved by Biden's kind gesture to this day. He told Buzzfeed that he hopes by sharing the incident, others who stutter will also feel encouraged.
“It’s incredible and I’m just happy to kind of inspire people who have a speech impediment to follow their dream,” he said.
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