Editorial
Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. — Matthew 5:9 Former President Jimmy Carter, our fellow Georgian, was honored last week as a peacemaker and was recognized for his contributions to leave the world better than he found it by service to others.
President Carter, America’s 39th chief executive, died Sunday, Dec. 29, 2024, at his home in Plains. He was 100 and had lived a long, full and rich life.
The events paying tribute to our fellow Georgian culminated in a state funeral last Thursday at the Washington National Cathedral followed by burial back home in his beloved Plains.
Carter had his failings. His single term in office is not regarded a success by any standard measure.
His few achievements, notably the Camp David Accords, keeping the peace and forward thinking on the environment and military, are always overshadowed by double digit inflation, long lines for gas and the Iran hostage crisis. Those events largely defined his presidency as unsuccessful. But, what an example of public service he gave us after he left office. It is safe to say President Carter was a much better former president than he was a president.
The President’s grandson, Jason Carter, said it best during his eulogy of his grandfather last week.
“(Jimmy and Rosalynn) were small-town people who never forgot who they were and where they were from, no matter what happened in their lives. It was matched by faith. And in both public and private, my grandparents did fundamentally live their lives in effort, as the Bible says, to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with their God. But his life was also a broader love story about love for his fellow humans, and about living out the commandment to love your neighbor as yourself.”
With a toothy grin and a affable manner, Mr. Carter worked hard in the time after his presidency to serve others.
While other former presidents have spent their time writing memoirs, building libraries and cashing in on their time in office, Carter returned to his modest, middle-class home in the rural, Southwest Georgia farming community that nurtured and raised him. And, he spent the next fourplus decades giving back and serving and helping others.
Along with his wife, Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, President Carter founded the Carter Center in Atlanta. Through the center, the Carters led efforts to keep the peace in places torn by war and violence, helped fledgling democracies hold elections, worked to eliminate suffering from illness and disease and to increase food production around the globe. Through the Habitat for Humanity organization, the Carters helped to build houses for the poor.
And, every Sunday, as he had for decades, he taught Sunday school at Marantha Baptist Church, conveying by teaching the Word he tried to live out by example. It is hard to imagine a more uniquely American story. It is a testament to the beauty of this country that anyone can be president—even a small town peanut farmer.
We pause and reflect on a life well lived. God bless you President Jimmy Carter! Well done, sir.
