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Hillary Clinton responds to controversy over a former campaign employee in a viral post.

Minutes before Donald Trump took the stage to deliver this year's State of the Union address, Hillary Clinton published a story of her own.

Four days after a New York Times report uncovering Clinton's mishandling of a sexual harassment allegation against the faith advisor for her 2008 campaign, the former Secretary of State offered a thorough response on social media. It's probably safe to say it's not a coincidence that the explanation was posted while the rest of the political world was busy watching Trump, likely with hopes that it'd go largely unnoticed and she'd be able to put this issue behind her.

With that said, there is a lot of substance to the statement, and it's certainly worth a read. In case you're feeling a bit burned out on the news these days, here's a rundown of some of the highlights.


The most important work of my life has been to support and empower women. I’ve tried to do so here at home, around the...

Posted by Hillary Clinton on Tuesday, January 30, 2018

1. "The short answer is this: If I had it to do again, I wouldn’t."

Clinton opens the statement by saying, "The most important work of my life has been to support and empower women." So why was it that Burns Strider, the faith advisor accused of harassment, was given a pass? And why was it that the woman who reported being harassed was punished for his actions and given a different job on the campaign?

In short, Clinton says, it was a lapse in judgment — one she explains in more detail later in the post.

2. "I asked for steps that could be taken short of termination."

It was Clinton's call not to fire Strider, a decision that conflicted with the advice of her then-campaign manager. After receiving the complaint, the campaign determined that Strider did, in fact, act inappropriately around the woman. Still, Clinton says she "didn't think firing him was the best solution to the problem."

"He needed to be punished, change his behavior, and understand why his actions were wrong," she continues. "The young woman needed to be able to thrive and feel safe. I thought both could happen without him losing his job. I believed the punishment was severe and the message to him unambiguous."

Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.

3. "I’ve been given second chances and I have given them to others. I want to continue to believe in them."

Second chances are important, and sometimes people can change for the better. While Clinton notes that Strider went the rest of the campaign without any additional complaints, he was eventually fired from another job years later for similar behavior.

"That reoccurrence troubles me greatly, and it alone makes clear that the lesson I hoped he had learned while working for me went unheeded," she adds. "Would he have done better — been better — if I had fired him? Would he have gotten that next job? There is no way I can go back 10 years and know the answers. But you can bet I’m asking myself these questions right now."

4. "When The New York Times reported on this incident last week, my first thought was for the young woman involved."

The person who matters most in this story is one whose name might never be known to the public. Clinton and Strider are just an ancillary focus here; it's the woman who was harassed who deserves our thoughts and concern. According to Clinton, she reached out to the woman after the Times report was published, to offer her apologies and to better understand what happened.

"I called her not knowing what I’d hear," Clinton writes. "Whatever she had to say, I wanted her to be able to say it, and say it to me."

From Clinton's retelling of the conversation, the woman says that "she felt supported back then — and that all these years later, those feelings haven't changed." Maybe that's how the woman truly feels, and if so, that's great to hear. "She's read every word of this and has given me permission to share it," writes Clinton.

Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images.

5. "For most of my life, harassment wasn’t something talked about or even acknowledged."

Clinton's statement offers up some important context. The #MeToo and Time's Up movements have sparked an important and overdue conversation about workplace harassment — sexual and otherwise — but it's only begun to be taken seriously relatively recently.

"More women than not experience [harassment] to some degree in their life, and until recently, the response was often to laugh it off or tough it out. That’s changing, and that’s a good thing," she writes.

6. "No woman should have to endure harassment or assault — at work, at school, or anywhere."

Clinton urges the world to consider "the complexities of sexual harassment, and be willing to challenge ourselves to reassess and question our own views" — doing just that in this lengthy, imperfect-yet-honest post.

"In other words, everyone’s now on their second chance, both the offenders and the decision-makers. Let’s do our best to make the most of it."

Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images.

7. "We can’t go back, but we can certainly look back, informed by the present."

Nothing Clinton does now will change her 2008 decision not to fire Strider at her campaign manager's recommendation, but she can use that moment, resurfaced by the Times, to help inform her future decisions.

"We can acknowledge that even those of us who have spent much of our life thinking about gender issues and who have firsthand experiences of navigating a male-dominated industry or career may not always get it right," she acknowledges.

8. "There was no man in the chain of command."

"I recognize that the situation on my 2008 campaign was unusual in that a woman complained to a woman who brought the issue to a woman who was the ultimate decision maker. ... The boss was a woman," she says, noting the role of enablers, even accidental ones.

"Does a woman have a responsibility to come down even harder on the perpetrator? I don’t know. But I do believe that a woman boss has an extra responsibility to look out for the women who work for her and to better understand how issues like these can affect them."

Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images.

9. "You may question why it’s taken me time to speak on this at length. The answer is simple: I’ve been grappling with this and thinking about how best to share my thoughts."

Life is filled with hard choices and situations without a clear "right" answer. This, to her, at the time, seemed like one of them. In hindsight, she acknowledges that she made the wrong call. By opening up, she says she hopes it'll take some of these conversations out of the abstract.

This is not a full-throated apology, nor is it a walled-off defense. It's not an example of self-flagellation, nor is it an attempt to ignore the issue at hand. It's simply a Facebook post, by a famously calculated public official showing a bit of humanity, humility, and a willingness to say that she was wrong. It won't make everybody happy, and it might not change many minds. It doesn't answer all the questions, but it does contribute to a much-needed conversation so many of us are currently having.

As far as apologies go, this is far from perfect — it would have been nice if she'd actually said the words "sorry" or "apologize" — but she took responsibility for her actions, and that's a start. It does give us a bit of insight into the mind of Hillary Clinton, and that's certainly a welcome perspective here.

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Three women, three MS journeys: How multiple sclerosis looks different for everyone

Gina, Nathalie and Helga share their reactions to being diagnosed with MS and how they stay informed and positive in the face of ever-changing symptoms.

Courtesy of Sanofi

Helga, Nathalie and Gina all have MS, and their experiences show how differently the disease can manifest.

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It’s been 155 years since neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot gave the first lecture on a mysterious progressive illness he called “multiple sclerosis.” Since then, we’ve learned a lot. We know MS causes the immune system to attack healthy tissue, including damaging the brain and spinal cord. Resulting symptoms can be debilitating and include fatigue, blurred vision, memory problems and weakness. Huge advancements in our understanding of MS and its underlying causes, as well as treatment advances, have been made in the past few decades, but MS remains a complex and unpredictable reality for the 2.8 million+ people diagnosed around the world.

Ironically, the only real constant for people living with MS is change. There’s no set pattern or standard progression of the disease, so each person’s experience is unique. Some people with MS have mild symptoms that worsen slowly but sometimes improve, while others can have severe symptoms that drastically alter their daily lives.

All people with MS share some things in common, however, such as the need to stay informed on the ever-evolving research, find various lines of support and try to remain hopeful as they continue living with the disease.

To better understand what navigating life with MS really looks like, three women shared their MS stories with us. Their journeys demonstrate how MS can look different for different people and interestingly, how the language used to talk about the disease can greatly impact how people understand their realities.

woman with horse, woman riding horseGina loves riding her horse, Benita.Courtesy of Sanofi

Gina—Hamburg, Germany (diagnosed with relapsing multiple sclerosis in 2017)

When her youngest son was 4 months old, Gina started having problems with her eye. She’d soon learn she was experiencing optic neuritis—her first symptom of MS.

“Immediately after the diagnosis, I looked up facts on MS because I didn’t know anything about it,” Gina says. “And as soon as I knew what could really happen with this disease, I actually got scared.”

As her family’s primary income provider, she worried about how MS would impact her ability to work as a writer and editor. Her family was afraid she was going to end up in a wheelchair. However, for now, Gina’s MS is managed well enough that she still works full-time and is able to be active.

“When I tell somebody that I have MS, they often don't believe me the first time because I don't fulfill any stereotypes,” she says.

Overwhelmed by negative perspectives on living with MS, Gina sought support in the online MS community, which she found to be much more positive.

“I think it’s important to use as many positive words as you can when talking about MS.” It’s important to be realistic while also conveying hope, she says. “MS is an insidious disease that can cause many bad symptoms…that can be frightening, and you can't gloss over it, either.”

To give back to the online community that helped her so much, Gina started a blog to share her story and help others trying to learn about their diagnosis.

Though she deals with fatigue and cognitive dysfunction sometimes, Gina stays active swimming, biking, riding horses and playing with her sons, who are now 11 and 6.

Cognitive dysfunction is common in MS, with over half of people affected. It can impact memory, attention, planning, and word-finding. As with many aspects of MS, some people experience mild changes, while others face more challenges.

Gina says that while there’s still a lot of education about MS needed, she feels positive about the future of MS because there’s so much research being done.

woman in wheelchair holding medal, woman rowingNathalie is an award-winning rower with multiple international titles.Courtesy of Sanofi

Nathalie — Pennes Mirabeau, France (diagnosed with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis in 2002)

Nathalie was a teenager and a competitive athlete when she noticed her first symptoms of MS, but it would take four years of “limbo” before she was diagnosed.

“Ultimately, the diagnosis was more of a relief, than a shock,” she says. “Because when you have signs and you don’t know why, it’s worse than knowing, in the end, what you have.”

However, learning more about the disease—and the realities of disease progression—scared her.

“That glimpse of the future was direct and traumatic,” she says. Her neurologist explained that the disease evolves differently for everyone, and her situation might end up being serious or very mild. So, she decided to stop comparing herself to others with MS.

She said to herself, “We’ll see what happens, and you’ll manage it bit by bit.”

By 2005, Nathalie’s MS had progressed to the point of needing a wheelchair. However, that has not dampened her competitive spirit.

Nathalie began her international rowing career in 2009 and has won multiple world titles, including two Paralympic medals—silver in London and bronze in Tokyo. Now, at 42, she still trains 11 times a week. Fatigue can be a problem, and sometimes hard workouts leave her with muscle stiffness and shaking, but she credits her ongoing sports career for helping her feel in tune with her body’s signals.

“Over the years, I’ve learned to listen to my body, letting my body guide when I need to stop and take breaks,” she says.

Nathalie explains that she used to only look backwards because of the initial shock of her diagnosis. In time, she stopped thinking about what she couldn’t do anymore and focused on her future. She now lives in the following mindset: “Even when doors close, don’t miss out on those that open.” Instead of focusing on what she can’t do, she focuses on the opportunities she still has. Right now, this includes her training for the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris, where she will compete for another rowing medal.

“I only go forward,” she says. “Well, I try, anyway…It’s easy to say, it’s not always easy to do. But that’s what I try to do.”

woman exiting water after swimming, woman with great daneHelga's Great Dane has become a helpful and beloved companion.Courtesy of Sanofi

Helga—Johannesburg, South Africa (diagnosed with relapsing multiple sclerosis in 2010)

When Helga first started having balance issues and numbness in her feet, she chalked it up to her training as a runner. But when the numbness moved to her face, she knew something was wrong. She never guessed it was MS.

“When I was diagnosed, I felt completely overwhelmed and clueless,” Helga says. “I felt that I had nowhere near enough information. I did not know anything about the disease…I had no idea that it was going to be a process of continually monitoring and adjusting your lifestyle.”

In the beginning, Helga’s symptoms developed slowly, and she didn’t appear ill to others. She was even able to run for a few years after her diagnosis, but she couldn’t do marathons anymore, and she began to fall frequently due to balance issues and right-foot dragging. Then her cognition issues became more problematic, especially in her job as a trainer in a printing company.

“My executive function, decision-making and short-term memory were affected to the point that I was eventually medically unfit for work,” she says. She stopped working in 2017.

However, she didn’t stop living life. Even though she could no longer run, she continued to swim competitively. She got a Great Dane puppy and trained him as a service dog to help her walk. She also serves as vice chair of the patient support organization Multiple Sclerosis South Africa, and she advises others who have been diagnosed to join a patient advocacy group as soon as possible to get reliable information and meet others with MS.

Helga says she is “hopeful” about the future of MS. “I must say that I am so grateful that we have all the new medications available, because my life would not be the same if it wasn't for that,” she adds.

Part of how she manages her MS is by looking at the positives.

“If I could tell the world one thing about MS, it would be that MS is an incurable disease of the nervous system, but it's also the greatest teacher of valuing your health, family, friends, and managing change in your life,” she says. “My life is diversified in a way that I never, ever thought it would, and MS has been honestly the greatest teacher.”

Each MS journey is unique – with each person impacted experiencing different struggles, successes, and feelings as they manage this unpredictable disease. But the common thread is clear – there is a critical need for information, support, and hope. We are proud to participate in World MS Day and share these incredible stories of living life while living with MS. To learn more about MS, go to https://www.sanofi.com/why-words-really-matter-when-it-comes-to-multiple-sclerosis.

MAT-GLB-2301642-v1.0-05/2023

This article was sponsored by Sanofi. Participants were compensated when applicable.

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