Our planet is about to lose one of its greatest human inhabitants. Jimmy Carter has entered hospice care. His life has been a century of human service. I keep coming back to the word “human.”
And to “service.” Carter framed leadership in terms of humble servitude rather than self-aggrandizement. He sought to unite not only our country but humanity.
Carter was far from a perfect president. There were components of the job for which he was ill-suited. But consider this. His greatest accomplishments and contributions came after he left the White House in 1981. That was 42 years ago. There can be no debate that he is America’s greatest ex-president. I find it inspiring that a man did not view the American presidency as the pinnacle of his life or the end of his service.
There’s that word again.
Jimmy Carter is a good man. He radiates goodness. I think the saddest part of our current political crisis is what we have done to the concept of human goodness. The real poison of the White Supremacy MAGA Autocracy Movement is that it rejects, resents, derides and disdains goodness. It has not only abandoned any pretense of seeking national unity, it actively seeks to divide us.
Goodness is now viewed as weakness. Goodness is considered naïve submissiveness and even surrender. Only suckers are “good” people.
Jimmy Carter is a good man. And Jimmy Carter is no sucker.
And may I add that self-styled “Christians” might want to consider his life and the purpose of his faith.
We’re about to lose a truly great human and a truly great American.
And he will leave us with a question we must address.
What’s so bad about being good?