A Goodbye
It’s a national day of mourning for Jimmy Carter. I remember when he won the presidency in 1977. It was a breath of fresh air after the Nixon years. But it didn’t take long, however, for him to fall foul of the hell-bent-for-leather American psyche. In response to the energy crisis he lowered the speed limit on US highways to 55 and he suggested we wear sweaters rather than turn up the heat. His biggest crime, however, was failing to bomb Iran back to the stone age when they took our hostages
So, he had his four year term then it was back to Plains, Georgia and the house he lived in for the rest of his life. From there he built homes for Habitat for Humanity and toured the world monitoring elections and promoting peace. The sort of peace he brokered between Israel and Egypt while he was president; the sort of thing people decided to overlook because they had to drive 55. He even won the Nobel Peace Prize. Not bad for a supposedly failed president.
A lot will be and has been written about him being a man of the people and a model citizen, but I don’t think it will make much of a difference. That sort of life doesn’t seem to be much in style these days. We admire wealth, and chutzpah, and telling it like it is, or how we want it to be, or whatever sounds good. Because when it gets right down to it being a good man is harder than it looks and it means self-sacrifice, and restraint, and empathy. All the things Jimmy Carter had in spades. So, adiós mi amigo, we’ll miss you on the public stage.