A Wonderful Life

President Carter

Like many Americans, I didn’t think Jimmy Carter was a great president.
But also like many Americans, I think Jimmy Carter may have been our best former president.
President Carter, who passed recently at the age of 100, was a long term player. I like long term players. I think they hold great lessons for all of us.

When you reach a pinnacle, President, CEO, Governor or even mayor of a small town,  it’s just that, a pinnacle. Not The Pinnacle. There’s always more for us to do. More for us to accomplish and aspire too.

Last week, I shared an article with friends that talked about old age.
The article noted that we cease being young when we stop aspiring, when we stop dreaming about the future.
It’s fine to be nostalgic and it’s important to learn from and reflect on the past, but we can’t live there. We have to keep moving forward. We can’t stop dreaming. There’s more for us to do. President Carter was a great example of that.

President Carter never got old.

He was only 56 when he lost his reelection bid to Ronald Reagan. He lived another 44 years. And it was a remarkable 44 years filled with building homes, global diplomacy, writing, teaching and of course romancing his beloved wife Rosalynn.

My friend Scott was one of President Carter’s students at Emory. He speaks glowingly about President Carter and tells a remarkable story about running into him years later while on a trip to Greece. The president remembered his name.
Now, Scott is a memorable character but that’s impressive.

A week before President Carter’s death, I happened to listen to a podcast featuring the historian Kai Bird.
Bird recently wrote a book about Carter which sounds fascinating.
He believes that Jimmy Carter may have been the smartest man to occupy the Oval Office. He talked about President Carter’s rise from Plains, Georgia to leader of the free world with stops first in the Navy, the Georgia Senate and Governor’s mansion.
It’s a remarkable story. An only in America saga. We still produce those stories and that’s comforting.

Jimmy Carter was our first rock and roll president befriending the Allman Brothers, Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson.
That’s a cool tidbit, but the important takeaway of his life, is that he turned a bitter and decisive defeat into a triumphant second chapter.
He was a long term contributor and he never stopped serving his country and people in need.
Personally, I don’t understand leaders who fade away.
How can you care so much about a cause or a place or a business and then just disappear?
Now admittedly there’s a fine line.

You don’t want to be the quarterback hanging around the high school parking lot talking about glory days.  And the you don’t want to be the  micromanager lurking in the shadows pulling the strings.
But you can be the veteran presence providing support and advice when needed and when asked. You can advise and find other ways to serve when the spotlight shifts to someone else. And folks, the spotlight always shifts to someone else.

Jimmy Carter never stopped serving or caring. You may disagree with his politics but it’s hard to argue with his commitment.
We need more servant leaders. We need more people who care to stay engaged for the long run.
Remembering a Chief
Delray lost another contributor recently with the passing of former fire chief Bob Rehr.
Chief Rehr was a good man and I enjoyed working with him briefly after I was elected to the City Commission in 2000.
He had a long and distinguished career in the fire service. He spent 24 years with the Miami Fire Department and served as Fire Chief in West Palm Beach.  All told, he spent 37 years in the fire service.
He will be missed. We send our condolences to Chief Rehr’s family during this difficult time.