Elizabeth Edwards and Life's Hard Choices

The public image of Elizabeth Edwards has suffered a serious bruising of late. A recent book depicts her as a crude bully, nothing like a victim. It offers a picture far different from the sympathetic figure who has endured the death of a teenaged son, terminal cancer and her husband's very public infidelity.

Who knows where the truth lies? But what has caught my attention in this drama is the concept of a woman betrayed who is not free to hate her husband.

Under her same circumstances, I would have gone the Elin Woods' route – let the bastard have it (allegedly with a golf club, no less) and then leave him.

I would have never looked back.

But I wouldn't be looking at premature death from cancer like Edwards does. I would not be leaving three children behind. How could I, in any way, sour their relationship with the only parent they'll have by publicly voicing or showing my disgust?

I don't know if, in her shoes, I could bite my tongue. It would take a super-human effort on my part to be that selfless.

Can there be agreement that, at the very least, Elizabeth Edwards seems to have her priorities straight?