This week, my students have been writing their first essay of the year. I thought it would be compelling motivation to write my own essay alongside them. Further, they recently had a city-wide competition where they could write a tribute about the life of Jimmy Carter. And, even beyond that, I just finished reading a book by Jimmy Carter. All rolled into one, I almost had to write this essay. It has been edited under the brain fog of a mild cold and was written on a Friday night after a week of teaching. That is to say… be kind and one day I may improve upon my thoughts on these themes. The teacher in me, however, says it’s important to write as practice and that progress is greater than perfection. So, now, here’s some thoughts about Jimmy Carter and what makes a modern hero.
“Jimmy Carter and Modern Heroism”
We celebrated my Pawpaw’s life at my aunt’s home in small-town Georgia. Around a hundred people gathered in her home to eat barbecue and reflect on our loved one’s life. I prayed, and both my aunt and uncle gave eulogies. Soon after, we went through Pawpaw’s belongings. I had been away for college, so I only had pone box to consider. I kept a couple of shirts, a silver dollar from his birth year, and Sources of Strength by Jimmy Carter.
I have a friend who believes that America has a major problem devaluing its heroes. The founding fathers, he says, are hated when people judge them by modern standards. More recent figures are discredited, too. Abraham Lincoln wasn’t enough of an abolitionist and Dr. King had a troubled personal life. These points are used to discredit these figures and other people of historical importance. Their flaws keep them from being held as heroes in many peoples’ eyes. My friend believes the logical end of this is a society that no longer knows how to choose right because they have learned only how to find the wrong that people do.
If my friend is right and America has discredited its heroes, then someone should tell my family, because we haven’t gotten the memo. In Pawpaw’s assisted living, on a sparse bookshelf, he featured a devotional book by one of his heroes. The whole lot of my family are from Georgia, and we’re proud as can be that our state’s only president to date is the smiling peanut farmer. The man acclaimed for his moral principles and Christian faith is our hero. Every conversation about Carter starts the same; “he may not have been a great president, but he was a great man.” In a way, his questionable effectiveness as a political leader makes him a perfect paragon hero.
First, let’s do what we must as a modern audience. Let’s discredit the hero. Political history is not my expertise, but, as I understand it, Carter was not an effective president. He was too weak for the Cold War, too hard to work with to get bills passed, and unwilling to choose political savvy over ideals. His four years in office were quickly whisked away by a Reagan campaign that promised America a stronger leader.
If these few points illuminate his failures, how can he be a great modern hero? I raise another question in response. If every figure will be discredited in some way, is it better to be discredited for their effectiveness or for their ideals? People look to heroes to inspire them. Heroes remind us what we believe in, so if they have to be flawed, its a greater problem for them to be flawed in their ideals than in their effectiveness. In my family’s stance, his presidential term is of minimal consequence because he spent much more of his life loving his family, teaching Sunday School, and building houses with Habitat for Humanity. He is a hero not for his political effect, but because he served as the most powerful man in the world and came home at the end of the day with his soul.
Let us now consider that soul. What, in his words, does he stand for that is so heroic? Sources of Strength is a collection of 52 devotional chapters based on his years of Sunday School notes. I will focus on a few chapters that exemplify his stance. First, he is humble. His second chapter (after the first outlines what a Christian is) is on Jesus, the humble servant. Carter’s picture of Christ is like that of Isaiah 53. He is the man of sorrows, from “a lowly family” whose disciples were, at his death, “not fully convinced” (p. 10). But, of course, Carter proclaims this man to be Lord. He emphasizes himself and other Christians as servants of God. If Christ was humble, then his servants must be all the more humble. As a hero, then, Carter exemplifies an ideal of humility.
In humility, Carter is deeply concerned with how people live. He writes, “Have I lived in a way that is truly compatible with the teachings of the humble, human, yet all-loving and all-knowing God I have pledged to follow?” (p. 14). Much of his book demonstrates his serious contemplation of this question. One way he believes the Christian must treat others is with forgiveness. He calls this the “special message of Christ,” —the thing that distinguishes Christ’s moral message from the other most influential teachers (p. 20). He believes this must extend beyond all reasonable quantity of offenses forgiven and beyond all reasonable people groups to forgive. Further, he calls upon self-sacrifice as a ruling principle of Christian living. He uses the famous example and writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer (whom I hope I am soon to read) to emphasize the importance of Christian sacrifice. In an America where free speech is protected, Carter says Christian sacrifice is of one’s own well-being for the sake of others (p. 45). Each principle laid out here follows that principal. Carter believes in seeking others’ well-being over his own.
Before moving on from the book, let’s take one more case of Carter’s heroic ideals. In the chaper entitled “What can one Person Do?” Carter tells the story of two noteworthy events within the congregation of Marinantha Baptist Church during 1976. For one, a man named Jimmy was nominated president of the United States. Second, a family was sent to the country of Togo as missionaries. For this chapter, the presidential author focuses on that second event. He tells of the Ethridge family who, through bringing sustainable food, water, and Health Services to the people of eastern Togo, brought many people to believe in Christ (p. 136-138). In framing this example in such a way, Carter continues to put others before himself. He upholds the dignity and human rights of the Togolese people by focusing on their physical needs being met, and he upholds the value of two people’s work through the impact of the Ethridge family. As a hero, Carter uplifts others and encourages them towards following the example fo Christ with him.
Without belaboring the point, I believe Carter’s written work gives organization and words towards the beliefs that guided his life of service. He is a hero because he was fiercely consistent in his humility, self-sacrifice, and belief in the impact of humans working for good. Perhaps, it is the most beautiful part of his story that he was greater as a layperson than as a world leader. In reading, I was amazed at how familiar every lesson felt. To the experienced Christian reader, Carter presents very little new information, but he does so with clarity born of lived faith. This is what makes him a great hero for my southern Christian family. His life was exemplary for its replicability. Pawpaw could not be president, very few people can, but he could live humbly in love after the example of one of his heroes. And I, in turn, can live holding my Pawpaw as a hero.
I am not sure if my friend is correct that we have discredited our heroes. I believe in heroes that make mistakes because I believe in a God that redeems our failings. Perhaps we should awake to our heroes’ failings while recognizing their exemplary traits. It is ok to learn from a man who was a poor president if you’re not trying to be president. If you look towards him— or better, the Lord he follows— you won’t necessarily learn how to be perfect, but you may just learn how to be a greater human.
The Big Idea 
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