I guess it could be easy to dump on Delegate Joe Morrissey.
Let’s face it, relations with a 17-year old girl, his numerous court appearances, his disbarment and the subsequent questions as to whether or not he should be practicing law now given his convictions? His overnight stays at the jail while representing his district at the General Assembly?
Joe’s got his problems.
…but he’s also taking care of his kid.
“I woke up this morning and the first person I kissed was Chase. My son,” Morrissey said on The Jack Gravely Show on WLEE 990 AM. The baby’s mother accompanied him in the studio. The Washington Post typically does not name victims of sexual crimes
The announcement came days after Morrissey released a photograph of himself, the baby and the young woman, with whom he continues to be in a relationship. He said the picture was taken on Mother’s Day in Virginia Beach.
“I am as engaged in Chase’s life as a man could be. I’m super proud of Chase and I love [his mother],” he said. Morrissey said he has been “changing poopy diapers, giving him milk. I make it sound like a chore. I love it!”
Folks can read the rest of the Washington Post article (and others) and do their best Maury Povich impersonation… all well and good. Others can clutch their pearls at Morrissey’s conduct. Many others still can look at Joe Morrissey’s life and see a sorry trail that only ego and pride could have carved out.
…and yet.
How much easier would it have been for Morrissey to simply have forced the mother to have an abortion? Nice and tidy, swept under the rug, and life goes on. After all, it happens thousands of times across the nation every day.
Morrissey didn’t do that. The mother of his son didn’t do that. His son is completely ignorant of the conditions that brought him into this world, with all its judgments and opportunities, it’s hopes and aspirations, its cruelties and charities. Someone, somewhere along the line, made the choice for life. That — to me — amidst all the muck and wincing that has surrounded this story, is a rather hopeful footnote to the entire episode.
You gotta wonder whether or not the introduction of a little life into the world changes things for Joe Morrissey. Wouldn’t it be something if we are witnessing the evolution of Joe Morrissey into a father, someone who respects life for a change? Or maybe it’s too much hope in the face of jaded cynicism?
It’s not quite the Road to Damascus, and Morrissey could be putting it all on for show. Yet stranger things have happened.
Not making excuses for the rest, but if there’s a silver lining behind clouds, that little one is a heck of an accomplishment. As Cicero said, where there’s life there’s hope… and maybe there’s hope for Joe Morrissey after all.
