Credit; LBJ Library and Museum.
what a man!what a life!
what a loss!
President Jimmy Carter was a truly extraordinary man and a rare politician who always stood up and spoke out for idealism, compassion and human rights and particularly for the rights of women and those who suffered real oppression.
He was always there to support those whose struggles had gone unseen or unheard, a champion for the homeless with yearly visits house building with Habitat for Humanity, he was the flag-bearer for so many minorities. He championed those with rare diseases whose cures would never make much money for big pharma. Some killer diseases, like Guinea Worm and River Blindness, the Carter Centre had a critical role in eradicating from many countries. He also, endlessly, campaigned for the right to proper representation, to free and fair elections in so many fledgling democracies and, closer to home, he proudly stood behind all Rosalyn’s work prioritising and bringing mental health out of the shadows.
Peace Justice and Democracy were not ideas to which you paid lip service, but passions you had to go out and work for again and again, wherever and whenever they required a champion.
Jimmy was such a man of principle. You only had to see the way he made relationships, it was always a person to person thing, never determined by race, sex, religion or wealth. He was always open to all-comers and there to represent the underdog.
When Nelson Mandela, Richard Branson and I first began proposing the idea of a group of global Elders, President Carter agreed to come to a brainstorming session. We were excited to have him interested, but devastated when he shot the whole idea down and thought it unworkable and unrealistic, but he slowly came around with encouragement from Mandela and Archbishop Tutu, who convinced him of its unique potential. He saw the way doors could open and how The Elders could as a group, influence events and leaders. He then became one of the most active and influential Elders since its creation, travelling to Darfur, Israel and Palestine, North Korea, the Cote d’Ivoire and South Sudan.
At all the meetings, however many years he had on his belt, he was always one of the first out exercising and retained his extraordinary sharp mind full of facts, experience and history with an engineer’s passion for precision.
I feel so privileged to have been able to work with and get to know this great and truly inspiring man.
– pg
