Jimmy Carter's Example

Even with him gone, we need to keep listening

Just got word that President Jimmy Carter died at age 100. He was a good man.

When Carter ran for president in 1976, I was very young and very left, saw little difference between the two political parties: I was an Independent. A State Senator and Governor of Georgia, Carter was not well-known at the national level, and his nomination was a suprise to the country; some other contenders were Jerry Brown of California and Morris Udall of Arizona, who was my favorite. Udall was more liberal, I was suspicious of Carter’s centrism and, while unfair on my part, I was uncomfortable with his outspoken Christian beliefs. This election was the last time a Democratic candidate for president took the majority of southern states, perhaps because he was from Georgia, but we were begining to see the changes in our political landscape. When I was young, I always thought of the south as Democratic, which it was. But not for long.

My upbringing as a Quaker taught me to be tolerant of everyone’s religion, and as I “grew up” into my adulthood, I became comfortable with Carter’s Christianity. In fact, I greatly admire him because of how he actually lived his beliefs, he didn’t simply attend church weekly, nor did he spew scripture. He wanted to spread peace.

This was particularly visible after he left office; he became perhaps one of the most consequential former presidents in our history in terms of peace and human rights—don’t quote me on that, I have no stats. But his life after serving one term as our President is not measurable in stats— he just did so much good for so many people. He used his position and his life, to help others. During his presidency, I admired what he did for the Middle East between Egypt and Israel, and the arms treaty with the Soviet Union. He kept going, in whatever way he thought would be helpful, and recieved the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, twenty years after his presidency.

There are many ways understand peace. Carter taught us a lot, I hope we can keep listening.

Damon Winter, New York Times