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Today's prompt: Someone who fascinates you and why...
I am absolutely fascinated with Jimmy Carter. I was a kid when we watched his inauguration on TV at school and I didn't have any clue what it meant, but I enjoyed the pageantry. I always felt like he was my president, that he belonged to me. And all the ridicule and harsh criticism of his term in office hurt. But his gracious dignity of post-presidential life has inspired me. His Nobel Prize, his dozens of best-selling books, and Habitat for Humanity are his legacy.
"I have one life and one chance to make it count for something... My faith demands that I do whatever I can, wherever I am, whenever I can, for as long as I can with whatever I have to try to make a difference." ~ Jimmy Carter
"I'd like to be remembered as someone who was a champion of peace and human rights." ~ Jimmy Carter
3 comments:
I think that those who slag Carter do it because they refuse to look at him in context. After Vietnam, Agnew, Watergate/the pardon, we longed for an honest man. Jimmy Carter was just that. We didn't worry about his ethics, and that freed us to bitch about the economy and Iran. You know, stuff you can worry about when you're confident your President is not a crook.
Jimmy Carter was the first election Presidential candidate I voted for. In retrospect, I probably would have voted for Gerald Ford. But I was so angry about the pardon, I literally couldn't see straight. (Now I think Ford was 100% right to do it.) But still, when I think about that election, I realize what a pair of honorable, terrific candidates we had to choose from. Both were really good men. It seldom happens that we get to choose between two of the best our country has to offer.
While I've not always agreed with some of Carter's views in more recent years, I've always believed he was a man of integrity who said what he meant and meant what he said.
I think most presidents, even ones we don't particularly like, would be interesting to have a sit-down with. A lot of them, I think, probably really did have good intentions but found that the political machine in Washington dictated their actions more than they expected.
I was very young but remember the ceremonies, as I have gotten older and love
reading about people I realized he was a man of his word. I love reading about the presidents!
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