If There Is a Heaven...

Saying Goodbye to Your Hero

…Jimmy Carter has walked through its doors.

I must push back my plans of writing about Nosferatu today to write about someone very special to me. Jimmy Carter was a damn good man and my personal hero. The first President to live to be 100 years old passed away today and joined his wife, Rosalynn, in the world beyond ours.

I first began my journey with President Carter in the spring of 2023. I did not know much about him except that he was a one-term President and that he dedicated his life post-presidency to humanitarian causes. I knew that he was a good man, but any information about his presidency was overshadowed by the era of his successor. Around that time in 2023, I mentioned wanting to learn more about him and a friend recommended two books to me - The Outlier: The Unfinished Presidency of Jimmy Carter by Kai Bird and His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, A Life by Jonathan Alter. Little did I know that this intellectual curiosity would lead me to admire a man in a time when society is in desperate need of people worthy of admiration.

Born in Plains, Georgia on October 1, 1924, this son of a peanut farmer would live ten decades with kindness, humility, and integrity. Carter’s dedication to service began early on as he enlisted in the Navy. He would eventually return home to the peanut farm and pursue a career in politics. In 1970, Carter was elected as the Governor of Georgia. His inauguration showed a man committed to justice even when he held a position of power. Governor Carter would shock his southern home state by declaring that the time for racial discrimination was over. Just six years after the passage of the Civil Rights Act and the southern states remaining bitter about racial equality and he made sure everyone knew that he would be on the right side of history as he led his state. It was a moment of Jimmy Carter doing the right thing.

There is a quote from Jimmy Carter that love. It’s hanging in my classroom. He said, “The bond of our common humanity is stronger than the divisiveness of our fears and prejudices.” This value he professed is one we often need reminding of today.

After serving one term as Governor, Jimmy Carter ran for President in a time when his country needed a man of his character.

The United States lost trust in its President in the 1970s. Richard Nixon was forced to resign amidst the Watergate Scandal and Gerald Ford would fill the role as President until the 1976 Election. The Vietnam War was over, but the pain of the war persisted. The country needed a man that didn’t crave power and didn’t use the power of government to go after his enemies. Americans needed someone to lead them into a new era of history. They needed someone committed to guiding the country into a future of Civil Rights. Jimmy Carter won because the United States needed a man of character.

Yes, Jimmy Carter’s presidency had challenges. Yes, he only served one-term. Yes, he is not viewed by historians as being in the top-tier of Presidents. All of that is okay. There are times in history when the person that is called to the moment is there for a purpose higher than power. President Carter’s purpose included:

• Moving the country beyond Vietnam and Watergate

• Furthering the cause of Civil Rights:

  • At the time, he held the record for most women and ethnic minorities appointed to the federal judiciary.

  • He signed the Indian Child Welfare Act into law, protecting Native American children in foster care.

• Committing the government to protecting the environment:

  • He was years ahead in this mission as he was the first President to put solar panels on the White House.

  • He signed the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act into law, designating 157 million acres of Alaskan land for federal protection.

• Making peace a mission of US Foreign Policy:

  • The treaty between Israel and Egypt that President Carter helped negotiate remains the longest standing peace treaty between two Middle Eastern countries.

• Last, finishing the job of getting the hostages in Iran free as his presidency was coming to an end.

  • President Carter did not try to cling to power, but he conceded his loss in the 1980 election. He did not sit in the White House and pout about his loss, but he continued the good work. He made sure to get those hostages free and home to their families.

There is another thing that Jimmy Carter did that earned my admiration. This was something outside his official capacity as President, something I’ve never heard of another President doing. When things were not going well and the gas prices were high and the economy was struggling, he invited everyday normal Americans to the White House. He asked everyone from teachers to health care workers to faith leaders and others what problems they are facing. He wanted to know how he can better serve them as President. He was not a man in a position of power over the people. He was a public servant.

He stepped away from office as most Presidents do, speaking to the country with his Farewell Address. Words that are still relevant today:

• “Good evening. In a few days, I will lay down my official responsibilities in this office -- to take up once more the only title in our democracy superior to that of president, the title of citizen.”

• “America did not invent human rights. In a very real sense, it is the other way round. Human rights invented America.

  Ours was the first nation in the history of the world to be founded explicitly on such an idea. Our social and political progress has been based on one fundamental principle -- the value and importance of the individual. The fundamental force that unites us is not kinship or place of origin or religious preference. The love of liberty is a common blood that flows in our American veins.

  The battle for human rights -- at home and abroad -- is far from over. We should never be surprised nor discouraged because the impact of our efforts has had, and will always have, varied results. Rather, we should take pride that the ideals which gave birth to our nation still inspire the hopes of oppressed people around the world. We have no cause for self-righteousness or complacency. But we have every reason to persevere, both within our own country and beyond our borders.

  If we are to serve as a beacon for human rights, we must continue to perfect here at home the rights and values which we espouse around the world: A decent education for our children, adequate medical care for all Americans, an end to discrimination against minorities and women, a job for all those able to work, and freedom from injustice and religious intolerance.

  We live in a time of transition, an uneasy era which is likely to endure for the rest of this century. It will be a period of tensions both within nations and between nations -- of competition for scarce resources, of social political and economic stresses and strains. During this period we may be tempted to abandon some of the time-honored principles and commitments which have been proven during the difficult times of past generations.

  We must never yield to this temptation. Our American values are not luxuries but necessities -- not the salt in our bread but the bread itself. Our common vision of a free and just society is our greatest source of cohesion at home and strength abroad -- greater even than the bounty of our material blessings.”

When asked in an interview how he wanted to be remembered, Jimmy Carter started with his family. He wanted to be remembered as a good great-grandfather, a good grandfather, a good father, and a good husband. In politics, he wanted to be remembered as a champion of peace and human rights. How many politicians genuinely say that and mean it? Not many, but that is how we will remember Jimmy Carter. He was a champion of peace and human rights. From his work with Habitat for Humanity to helping to eradicate the guinea worm disease in Africa to trying to strengthen democracy on a global scale, Jimmy Carter was a champion for right causes. He was a good man and I will always admire him for that.