Sad to say, former President Jimmy Carter, who died on Dec. 29 at the age of 100, endured a bad rap for so long by so many Americans.
He was lambasted by some as being weak, wavering, inattentive, ineffective – especially during a vicious hostage crisis in Iran and also as the “cause” of inflation during his presidential term (1977-1981).
Our 39th President, Carter started (and remained) a man of the people. He was a down-to-earth peanut farmer in Plains, Ga. and a U.S. Navy veteran who was a nuclear engineering expert. He had served as governor of Georgia before his election victory over then-President Gerald Ford. Carter and his brother Billy – indeed his entire family – were lampooned as country bumpkins for so long by snoot-nosed people with a baseless superiority complex.
In fact, Carter and his achievements were largely passed by unnoticed by those pseudo-sophisticated critics. Some who knew him have said he could be headstrong and difficult in communications, but who among us does not have those flaws?
With prodding encouragement and active help from beloved wife Rosalynn, President Carter helped secure a temporary peace in the Mid-East and encouraged/promoted clean energy (including solar panels on the White House roof, later removed by President Reagan). Carter constantly insisted upon and helped implement policies for human rights worldwide. In fact, despite all the nasty political attacks against Carter, time and again he worked with others unwaveringly as President and as post-President for worldwide human rights – against violence, racism, sexism, torture and other horrific injustices. He also led the fight that turned into grateful outcomes against horrible diseases rampant in Third-World countries, especially the “Guinea Worm Disease” in Africa that caused many Africans to writhe in hideous pain as they wasted away and died.
Time and again, he and wife Rosalynn worked alongside other volunteers to build houses throughout the world as members of the “Habitat for Humanity” organization, right up until their last years. They were both devout, progressive Christians, committed to international justice and human rights. And they spent countless hours in hands-on efforts to enlighten the world, to make it better.
Carter was the first to admit he was not a perfect human being, that he was at times a flawed Christian, and yet he kept a tenacious grip on one over-aching goal: To help fellow human beings wherever they happen to be living and suffering on this Earth.
He was not a power-monger; he was not a grandstanding show-off; he was not a “holier-than-thou” type; he was not a braggart or blatant liar. He was a genuine, if sometimes flawed, public servant before, during and after his term as President.
We Americans should be forever grateful for Carter’s steadfast qualities, especially his (and wife Rosalynn’s) passionate commitments to moral imperatives and loving connective persuasions here and worldwide.
This all-too-dangerous planet is much better because of those kinds of Carter commitments. May their achievements toward kindness, justice, democracy and peace continue to increase – exponentially.
