Farewell, Jimmy
Today is the celebration of Jimmy Carter’s life at the National Cathedral in Washington DC.
December 30, 2024, I did a post about President Carter, and this week, Chuck Woolery sent me his comments. which appear in the comments section of the December 30 post, and which I recommend to you on this date, as both a tribute to Jimmy Carter, and an invitation to action as a citizen. Scroll down to the long comment “from Chuck”.
Farewell, Jimmy. You showed up.
*
The funeral service is over.
Here is a photo from the second time I saw Jimmy Carter in person, at the Augsburg University Nobel Peace Prize Forum, Minneapolis, March 6, 2015. He was 90, and he gave a great talk, focused on Human Rights, as I recall.
Jimmy Carter, Minneapolis, March 6, 2015
COMMENTS:
from Dick: a question came up from someone about Jimmy Carter’s religion (Baptist) and where the funeral was held (the National Cathedral in Washington). Over recent history, so far as I know, state funerals for Catholic President (Kennedy) was St. Matthew’s Cathedral in D.C., and for others – apparently all Christians to date – at National Cathedral (Episcopal). To my knowledge there is no rule, nor even necessarily a tradition about this practice.
from Norm: Just a beautiful service and memorial to President Carter and to all of the values that he and America stand for!
response from Dick: It was a powerful tribute to a great President. About the past-presidents, understood. What I think we fail to realize these days is that power folks at every level, every working day, have to deal with people they don’t agree with about impossible issues that they can’t avoid (I’m being kind). Remember Truman’s “The buck stops here”? It’s part of the job of President in a pluralistic society; or Governor, or Senator, or House member….
We lose perspective these days because we don’t have to sit next to somebody we disagree with. We can curse at each other screen to screen, and not face a punch in the face! In an hour, at this same screen, I’ll be joining a zoom call during which I’ll probably be asked to say a few words. It’s just a book club my cousin asked me to participate in. I’ll see some of the people. Except for her, I’ll know no one. Not everybody will be seen, you know the drill. Compare it with what you describe, two of the most powerful people in the world sitting next to each other at a funeral knowing that they’re on national television before probably millions of people! All they know for sure is that they might be on television.
What we have to recover is the ability to be civil with people with whom we disagree. This isn’t easy. Both sides have to be willing.
I do wonder what the incoming President was and is thinking. He’s not known for the kinds of behaviors President Carter was being eulogized for, or how Jerry Ford, Andrew Young, Walter Mondale and others are remembered as being. Not only that, he has the additional self-imposed burden of coming into office under a pretty dark cloud. No need for details. You know.
There are interesting days ahead, to say the very least.
from Molly:
a great
man
is
gone. Tall as the truth was who; and
wore his
… life
like a …
sky.
e.e. cummings
from Cindy: I view Jimmy Carter’s passing and funeral as the last great act of service and patriotism that he could provide to our country. Besides taking the spotlight off the orange man for a couple of weeks, his legacy stood before us in stark contrast to what we are about to face in the While House. I dare say that everyone there, save the Trumps, was in total agreement with what all the speakers had to say and the beautiful music shared with us. DJT was there so he could finally be on TV again, and miss-nose-in-the-air looked as though she’d rather be anywhere else. The memorial service was a beautiful event, filled with memories and humor, history and personal stories. I was reminded of much of his legislation that I’d forgotten or was barely aware of at the time. Rest in Peace, you Gen Z-er!
from Flo: We’ve often missed everything on our TV and radio, but service was so poor this afternoon that we couldn’t even get on the TV or our computers – System Wide Failure. All’s well now. Such is life in the fast lane. Just wish the news could be better all around the world!
from Dick, January 10, 5 a.m.: I watched the service at the National Cathedral yesterday morning. Heather Cox Richardson does an outstanding writeup of what we all witnessed, here. Late in the day came the Supreme Court decision that another ex-president can be sentenced today in New York: the first president convicted of a felony ever, I gather.
I looked through my photo file from the second, and only, time I saw and listened to Jimmy Carter up close and in person, March 6, 2015. (The first time was truly memorable, at the. old Minneapolis Auditorium, in 1978, when Carter came to defend the decision to create the Boundary Waters Conservation Area, and support a local candidate for Congress. I recall a packed house with lots of people carrying “STOP” signs, and enroute into the hall having to walk through a phalanx of chanting people in grocery bag masks protesting the Shah of Iran. Some memories stick…. Jimmy is at peace; to us that wish as well….
from Fred: I am a longtime reader and supporter of American Heritage magazine, home to the best journal on American history since its inception. Perhaps I have forwarded a copy before but thought you would like this tribute, in the form of past articles about Jimmy Carter. Upon learning of Carter’s death, I thought of you and folks like you, Carter included, who untiringly expend great energy in advancing peace in the world.
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