What it means to be truly great

    

For most of us, the U.S. Presidency is the pinnacle. The President is the most powerful man in the most powerful country in the world. How could you beat that? 

    But for Jimmy Carter, the 39th man to hold the title of President of the United States, it was just a stepping stone on his lifelong mission of making the world a better place. 

    Flags are flying at half mast this month in honor of Carter who died Dec. 29, three months after his 100th birthday. When Carter left the White House in 1980, his single term had a low approval rating. Inflation, which had been building for a decade, was at 13 percent and a failed attempt to rescue 52 hostages in Iran overshadowed earlier successes including negotiating a peace treaty between Israel and Egypt. Even Carter gave his presidency a grade of "B", better than average but not as good as he would have liked. 

    When he returned to Georgia in early 1981, the peanut farm he had placed in a blind trust during his presidency was in deep debt. Carter sold the farm keeping the four-bedroom ranch that he and his wife Rosalynn had built in 1960. But he didn't put his feet up and live on his pension. He started writing a memoir of his presidency. By 1982 the memoir was a best seller and the Carters had founded the Carter Center in partnership with Emory University to "wage peace, fight disease and build hope."

    Sounds pretty ambitious, doesn't it? But it wasn't enough to keep Carter busy. In 1984 the Carters joined Habitat for Humanity, a non-profit that uses volunteer labor to build homes for low-income families. The Carters didn't start or manage Habitat, they just became the organization's most prominent volunteers. For decades they spent at least a week every year hammering, sawing and painting at building sites all over the world. I worked on a couple Habitat projects in Grand Rapids but I would never have heard of the organization if not for the publicity Carter attracted.

     In the 40 years after leaving the White House, Carter wrote 32 best-sellers ranging from poetry and an historic novel, to political criticism, theology and even a children's book.   Yet, writing took a back seat to Carter's work as an international peacemaker. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 “for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.” 

    The former president was also determined to eliminate Guinea worm disease, a devastating parasite infecting people in Africa and Asia.Working with local governments, the Carter Center helped reduce infections from 3.5 million in 1986 to just 14 reported cases in 2023. The Carter Center also worked to strengthen fledgling democracies by monitoring elections.

    Greatness isn't a title granted by governments, even in the wake of some mythical mandate from the voters. Greatness can't be bought no matter how many billions you spend. Greatness is an internal drive that can't be stopped by term limits or financial hardship, cancer, even death. The Camp David Accords Carter negotiated in 1979 have become a fact of life for Israel and Egypt. And the houses Jimmy and Rosalynn helped to build continue to provide warmth for families.  Greatness is reaching for the stars even when they are as unattainable as world peace. 

    Thanks, Jimmy.