A Good Man - Honoring Jimmy Carter 1924-2024

You know, I never understood why Jimmy Carter lost the eletion for his second term in office until I watched the pbs AMERICAN EXPERIENCE documentary on him, last night, 1/1/25. That was the way I celebrated New Year's night this year. I needed something positive. Jimmy Carter was my ideal of a really good man, honest, decent, caring and hard working. It was nothing short of a miracle that someone with such humble beginings could aspire to and actual achieve the presidency of the United States.

He began by joining the navy and moved up the ranks to become an officer in the submarine corps. He was very successful in the navy and I can tell you, from having read an autobiography of his many years ago, that he LOVED the submarine corps and would have made a career of it had his father not died and left him in charge of the family farm.

A lot of people depended on that farm, families of share croppers and his own family, so he left his chosen career and went back to Plains, Georgia to run the farm which was not prospering at the time. Jimmy Carter put his heart and his experience to the task of turning the farm into a profitable and stable business and then he turned his attention to politics. He became a senator and then governor. Amazingly, Carter won by convincing people he was an honest man and by proving that indeed he was what he said he was.

He was also careful to keep to a middle road in a segregated and intensely bigoted Georgia. He simply sidestepped the issue, but somehow, peope of both races sensed he was a good man, not a hateful one and that he would do the right thing, which he did.

He was a complete unknown, yet he put his shoulder to the task and made a dedicated and ceaseless effort with the unstinting support of his wife, Rosalyn. Often the profound support of women/wives/mothers/assistants is neglected in history, but in this documentary, he work both before and after he achieved office was acknowledged.

I have been making an effort to put a focus on the positive - doing the 5 gratitudes every day, trying to focus on the good things people are doing so I don't drown in the despair of the bad things which tend to catch the headlines, so I was really happy and grateful to spend an hour or two learning more about a really good man.

Jimmy Carter was a practicing Christian by which I mean not that he advertised as such, but that he practiced Christ's princples: PEACE, love, compassion, honesty, decency. And his greatest achievements reflect that, the SALT Treaty, the Camp David ACCords (please look them up if you don't remember) and he devoted his life after the presidency to helping provide housing for the homeless through Habitat for Humanity!

By the say, one neighbor has kindly volunteered to give my dog a really good walk every day, and my neighbor across the street just put out my recycle can and brought it back. I want to honor good men today!

Happy Trails! wrightj45@yahoo.com