Small Column for a GREAT MAN

THE WEEK, the best in US and International Media, is currently my favorite news magazine. For decades I was a Time and Newsweek reader but for the past decade or more, THE WEEK has been my go-to magazine. I also subscribed for decades to the Sunday New York Times but my vision has gotten too poor for the small type. The two things I enjoy most about THE WEEK, are the brevity of the columns and the wide variety. When I say variety, I don't just mean in the stories covered, but in the various other media referenced in the columns; they really do give both sides of the stories!

The old expression "A Good Man is Hard to Find" has often been found to be true in my life experience but I like to celebrate the good ones I have encountered or heard about and I have a few HEROES. Among presidents, my favorites have been Lincoln, a great hero in the most perilous of times, same for Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and I have to cite him for his genius vision the WPA! Jimmy Carter has always moved me to tears with his goodness, simplicity and straightforwardness of expressionand his great intelligence, which was never appreciated when he was in office. I would say the same about Joe Biden, a serious, hardworking, intelligent man who truly has put himself in the force field for the good of our people. Often buried in back pages are the lists of President Biden's accomplishements, as for example in the Infrastructure bill. For decades people have complained about the neglect of our roads, bridges and railway systems, not to mention our rivers and air! President Biden marshalled all he could to get something done, against heavy odds and partisan obstruction.

Buried in a 3 inch column today in The News, was a short notice about Jimmy Carter, age 98, being put on hospice at home. The column stated that he had complications from melanoma which had spread to his liver and his brain, and he had been suffering many falls. Mr. Carter stated that he was "absolutely and completely at ease with death." and added that as a Christian he had complete confidence in "life after death." Mr. Carter, working with Habitat for Humanity even up until 2020, helped build more than 4,000 houses. And he and his wife Rosalyn (95) have lived in the same modest house they built in 1961. Here is a man with virtue, simple unadorned nobility. He was loyal to his wife and his vows, not driven by ego or greed or ambition, but by the will and desire to serve his fellow humans. These are the Christian virtues spoken of in the Beatitudes, not the kind spouted in the new popular brand of mega-church Christianity to sells itself as a road to fame and fortune.

I am sorry that President Carter is dying but I am happy in his peace and equanimity in the face of it. He has had a good and long life which is a great blessing. He will always be a great model for me of what a man can be. I have read over the years, a couple of his autobiographical works, I think the last one was "Making the Most of the Rest of your Life." I think I will search my shelves and find it. It would be a good time to read it again and a good way to celebrate the life of a really GOOD MAN.

Happy Trails on your life! Jo Ann (remember, please use my e-mail if you wish to contact me, not the comments section which is polluted by spam!) Thank you wrightj45@yahoo.com