Remembering the life of President Jimmy Carter
Over the course of his life, Jimmy Carter wore many hats — farmer, Naval officer, university professor, philanthropist, husband, father, and the 39th president of the United States.
A role that spanned his adult life — before, during, and after his presidency — was that of Sunday school teacher.
After leaving Washington in the 1980s, President Carter and his wife Rosalynn could frequently be found at Maranatha Baptist Church, in Plains, Georgia, just a few miles down the road from Carter’s boyhood home.
There, President Carter opened his Sunday school class to the public, where hundreds of visitors would flock on the Sundays he taught.
On a cold December morning several years ago, my husband and I were fortunate enough to attend President Carter’s class.
We left our bed and breakfast in Americus in the predawn hours to secure a spot in line.
President Carter easily related to the day’s congregation, which was composed of visitors from across the nation and abroad.
Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Christians of every stripe, agnostics, and atheists were always welcome in his class — and they traveled from near and far to hear the former president speak.
Since hearing the news of President Carter’s passing, I’ve searched high and low for the handwritten notes I took that day, but they are lost to the passage of time.
But I don’t need to find notes, taken down over the course of one hour, to remember the former president.
He lived his life in such a way that the words he spoke on Sunday mornings are in perfect agreement with the way he showed up the other six days of the week.
As a young businessman, Carter rejected pressure to unite with the White Citizens’ Council — a segregationist organization — in Plains, Georgia, refusing to cave even when 20 customers appeared at his business, attempting to coerce him into joining.
As president, Carter signed a resolution that the Equal Rights Amendment be passed into law. (The ERA has not been ratified.)
Post presidency, President and Mrs. Carter founded The Carter Center, a nonprofit dedicated to promoting peace and fighting disease. A primary initiative of the organization is the eradication of Guinea worm disease. Efforts led by The Carter Center have brought cases of this disease down from 3.5 million in 1986 to just 11 recorded cases this year.
Throughout his life, President Carter reconciled his spiritual beliefs with scientific knowledge through wide reading and deep study.
On this National Day of Mourning, let’s pause to consider the life of President Jimmy Carter. The example he left us reaches across race, gender, creed, and political persuasion.
May we lose our interest in fitting in, when doing so would cause us to forfeit our values. May we resist the temptation to privilege one above another based on immutable characteristics. And may our beliefs be reflected in our deeds.
