Dept. of Endings
Tuesday, 31 December 2024 05:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kaffy_rJames Earl Carter Jr., 1924-2024
He was better known as Jimmy Carter. He was a good, brave, stubborn man who lived his faith, and although I no longer share that faith, he was one of the small and select group of believers I respect. He wanted to do right by the country and by the world during his four short years in the White House. He told America that he would never lie to them. He told the truth, even when it hurt or angered listeners.
He was hamstrung in too many respects by his own party in Congress. Despite that, he helped bring peace between Israel and Egypt through the Camp David Accords. If nothing else, that soars above the accomplishments of many who occupied the Oval Office longer.
He lost his try for a second term. It was an overwhelming loss. He was defeated in huge part by the Iran hostage crisis. He was also defeated by voters whose short term memories about a slowly improving economy - their refusal to be anything but low-information voters - made them blind to that economic reality. That resonates today, unfortunately.
He got up from that monumental knock-down, brushed off his dress trousers, put on the jeans he was more comfortable in, and looked for other ways to serve.
He built houses that became homes for people who might otherwise never had homes. He became an election observer across the globe, standing up for transparent, democratic elections where this was at all possible. He worked on behalf of peace, even when it angered political movers and shakers at home, including presidents who followed him. He didn't stop, because he believed that peace was something to work toward, even if one made occasional stumbles while heading there.
He tackled the destructive Guinea worm in Africa and helped bring about its effective demise.
He wrote books, at least one of which named Israel's treatment of Palestinians as apartheid long before others were brave enough to call it that. People like Netanyahu never forgave him. Carter didn't change his message.
He was a Navy submariner who did graduate work in nuclear physics and reactor technology. He helped save a Canadian nuclear plant that had gone into meltdown.
He was a farmer who loved the land.
But he loved his wife of 77 years even more. They were a team. Jimmy, who first met Roslyn when he was a child and she was an infant, loved Roslyn to the end of her days and beyond.
He never gave up on the world. And despite my own lack off belief in any given faith, I believe that he and Roslyn are back together.
Since his death, more than one person has said that, while many presidents weren't good enough for us, we all too often weren't good enough to deserve him.
Farewell, to the peanut farmer from Plains, Georgia. Farewell to a humble giant. In the end, he was true to his word; he never told a lie.
He was better known as Jimmy Carter. He was a good, brave, stubborn man who lived his faith, and although I no longer share that faith, he was one of the small and select group of believers I respect. He wanted to do right by the country and by the world during his four short years in the White House. He told America that he would never lie to them. He told the truth, even when it hurt or angered listeners.
He was hamstrung in too many respects by his own party in Congress. Despite that, he helped bring peace between Israel and Egypt through the Camp David Accords. If nothing else, that soars above the accomplishments of many who occupied the Oval Office longer.
He lost his try for a second term. It was an overwhelming loss. He was defeated in huge part by the Iran hostage crisis. He was also defeated by voters whose short term memories about a slowly improving economy - their refusal to be anything but low-information voters - made them blind to that economic reality. That resonates today, unfortunately.
He got up from that monumental knock-down, brushed off his dress trousers, put on the jeans he was more comfortable in, and looked for other ways to serve.
He built houses that became homes for people who might otherwise never had homes. He became an election observer across the globe, standing up for transparent, democratic elections where this was at all possible. He worked on behalf of peace, even when it angered political movers and shakers at home, including presidents who followed him. He didn't stop, because he believed that peace was something to work toward, even if one made occasional stumbles while heading there.
He tackled the destructive Guinea worm in Africa and helped bring about its effective demise.
He wrote books, at least one of which named Israel's treatment of Palestinians as apartheid long before others were brave enough to call it that. People like Netanyahu never forgave him. Carter didn't change his message.
He was a Navy submariner who did graduate work in nuclear physics and reactor technology. He helped save a Canadian nuclear plant that had gone into meltdown.
He was a farmer who loved the land.
But he loved his wife of 77 years even more. They were a team. Jimmy, who first met Roslyn when he was a child and she was an infant, loved Roslyn to the end of her days and beyond.
He never gave up on the world. And despite my own lack off belief in any given faith, I believe that he and Roslyn are back together.
Since his death, more than one person has said that, while many presidents weren't good enough for us, we all too often weren't good enough to deserve him.
Farewell, to the peanut farmer from Plains, Georgia. Farewell to a humble giant. In the end, he was true to his word; he never told a lie.
