The first bumper sticker I ever put on my car was a “Jimmy
Carter for President” sticker. I was a senior in college, he was running
against Gerald Ford, who had become President when Richard Nixon resigned.
Those were the days before I decided I was a Democrat.
In fact, I had voted for
Nixon in the previous election in 1972. It took me a little time to decide to
support the peanut-farming governor from Georgia. Instinctively, I had doubts
about a governor whose lieutenant governor was the avowed segregationist Lester
Maddox. But there was something different about this guy with the “Pepsodent”
smile. The more I listened to him, the more I came to appreciate a fundamental
honesty, sincerity, and pragmatism that was severely lacking in other
politicians. Even then, I felt that this was someone whom I could trust.
There are many people in America that consider themselves
Christians (70% according to the Huffington Post). A relative few however, live
the kind of life that justifies the title. Jimmy Carter has. I don’t know a lot of people that “do
unto others, as they would have others do unto them”, EVERYDAY. I can’t imagine
Jesus Christ insisting that every person in America should have unlimited
access to any kind of gun they might desire, (like so many of his critics do). Somehow, I can picture a modern day
Jesus negotiating peace among warring nations (like he does), building homes
for those without housing all over the world (like he does), and advocating
healthcare for everybody (like he does). I can literally see Jesus Christ
teaching Sunday School in a little-bitty church in Georgia every Sunday morning
(like he does). And, I can imagine people travelling from all over the world
and sleeping in front of the church to attend one of those Sunday School
sessions, just like they do in Plains, Georgia today.
On Thursday, August 20, 2015, President Jimmy Carter held a
press conference in Atlanta, Georgia. He had recently undergone surgery to
remove a tumor from his liver. It was determined to be cancerous, and the
doctors informed him it had spread to his brain. During his press conference,
he said that at first he thought he had only a few weeks left to live, but
surprisingly, he felt at ease. Who among us could face such a diagnosis with
such grace and good humor? The 90 year-old former President said “I have had a
wonderful life…. I’m ready for anything and I’m looking forward to new
adventure”. With his trademark smile, he would simply say, “It is in the hands
of God, whom I worship”. I was inspired by his faith, and reminded of my own.
Some of today’s politicians like to make fun of President
Carter and his presidency. Many of them spend a lot of time espousing their own
Christianity. They don’t mention Carter was the first evangelical Christian
elected President. They don’t mention his extensive knowledge of nuclear
physics or his service as a senior officer on America’s second nuclear submarine
(most of his critics never served at all). They never talk about the 28 books
he has written, the peace treaty he brokered between Egypt and Israel, or his
Nobel Peace Prize. Nobody ever mentions the promise he made (and
kept) to the American people. He told us he would never lie to us, and after
Richard Nixon, that was a hell of a promise. Those that like to
denigrate President Carter, would prefer to deify Ronald Reagan.
In our modern world, it is difficult to imagine an honest,
God-fearing, truth-telling, kind, compassionate, incorruptible, humble person
running for and winning the Presidency. But that’s what Jimmy Carter was, and that’s
what he did.
The consensus among historians when it comes to the Carter
presidency is that it was average at best when compared to other
administrations. However his post-presidential years have been universally
praised. He established the Carter
Center in 1982 with the goal of advancing human rights. Since that time he
has travelled all over the world brokering peace agreements between nations,
serving as an observer to ensure free and fair elections, and working to
eradicate infectious diseases in developing nations. He has also become synonymous
with “Habitat
for Humanity”, physically building homes for the less fortunate in the
United States as well as other nations.
When he told the world that he had brain cancer, and
mentioned that he had “a wonderful life”, it was an understatement. I was so
impressed by his total lack of self-pity. I was so encouraged by his
light-heartedness. What remarkable faith must be required to face one’s
impending demise in such a way. What a testament to one’s own faith in the way
a life has been lived. As I sat and watched him laugh and joke with the
reporters, yet expressing in intimate detail the seriousness of the situation,
I was inspired to be able to live my own life that way, to be able to face my
own death in the same way.
When I put that bumper sticker on my car in 1976, the green
and white sticker promoting “Jimmy Carter for President”, I did
not know what kind of man he really was. There was just something about him,
something that made me believe that he would do the right thing. I have never
put another bumper sticker on a car.
I probably never will.
