A LIFE WELL LIVED
THEME TWO: Visionary
We continue with the second theme in our three-part series:
A LIFE WELL LIVED: Simply a Love Story!
Theme One: Character/Peacemaker
Theme Two: VISIONARY
Theme Three: Partnership
VISIONARY
Walter (Fritz) Mondale
Former United States Vice President (d. 2015)
Eulogy believed to have been written by Mondale in 2015, was read by his son Ted Mondale:
ENVIRONMENT
Carter was farsighted. He put aside his short-term political interests to tackle challenges that demanded sacrifice to protect our kids and grandkids from harm one or two decades out. Very few people in the 1970's had heard the term "climate change." Yet Carter put his presidency on the line to pass laws to conserve energy, deregulate new oil and gas prices and invest in clean, renewable solar, wind and geothermal alternatives to fossil fuels. It wasn't a perfect program but, thanks to Carter, U.S. energy consumption declined 10% between 1979 and 1983. In many ways, he laid the foundation for future presidents to come to grips with climate change. Some thought he was crazy to fight so hard to pass these bills, but he was dead right.
WOMEN
All of us know President Carter elevated human rights to the top of his agenda but sometimes we forget how seriously he pushed to advance the rights of women. He proposed and signed the law extending the period for states to approve the Equal Rights Amendment, which now, finally, has been ratified by three quarters of the states. He appointed women to head the Departments of Commerce, Education, HEW and HUD. Women on his White House staff played crucial roles in developing his highest priority energy and environmental proposals and laws deregulating our oil and gas, trucking and airline industries. And he dramatically increased the ranks of female circuit and district court judges, including Ruth Bader Ginsburg. In all, he appointed five times as many women to the federal bench as all of his predecessors combined.
Two decades ago, President Carter said he believed income inequality was the biggest global issue.
Two years ago, in a speech in Lynchburg, he said "I think now... it is the discrimination against women and girls in the world, including the brutal killing of female infants, sexual abuse, human trafficking, honor killings and the rest.”
He concluded that, until the stubborn attitudes that foster discrimination against women change, the world cannot advance and poverty and income inequality cannot be solved.
Amen!
VISIONARY
Jason Carter
Grandson
Eulogy:
He had the courage and strength to stick to his principles even when they were politically unpopular. As governor of Georgia half a century ago, he preached an end to racial discrimination and an end to mass incarceration.
Fifty years ago he was a climate warrior who pushed for a world where we conserved energy, limited emission and traded our reliance on fossil fuels for expanded renewable sources.
His political life and his presidency, for me, was not just ahead of his time. It was prophetic.
VISIONARY
Reverend Andrew Young
Appointed in 1977 by Carter to serve as the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, he was the first African American to hold the position.
Eulogy:
Jimmy Carter, for me, was something of a miracle. I was born in the Deep South, shortly a few years after him.
And I don’t mean this with any disrespect, but it’s still hard for me to understand how you could get to be President from Plains, Georgia. I knew Plains from my pastorate in Thomasville, Georgia about 60, 70 miles south of there. And I was even nervous driving through Plains.
And yet, time and time again, I saw in him the ability to achieve greatness by the diversity of his personality and his upbringing. …[H]e grew up in the tremendous diversity of the South, and he embraced both sides.
…[H]e went out of his way…to embrace those of us who had grown up in all kinds of conflict. But that was the sensitivity, the spirituality that made James Earl Carter a truly great President.
James Earl Carter was truly a child of God. Not only a good farmer, but a nuclear physicist. But at the same time as he was working on a nuclear Navy, he was thinking of peace on earth and good will toward all men, and especially women and children. I never ceased to be inspired by the little deeds of love and mercy that he shared with us every day of his life.
Jimmy Carter was a blessing that helped to create a great United States of America. You have been a blessing from God and your spirit will remain with us.
…to be continued
