A simple man from Georgia

When we were kids, we lived off the beaten path, about a five-minute drive out of town. Of course, this was before the days of 500 channels and on-demand streaming. Our choices for evening entertainment were limited. We got two of the Big Three Networks — NBC and a very blurry CBS — and that was it

With no ABC, I had to learn from my friends about Welcome Back Kotter and The Six Million Dollar Man. Cable would eventually come to our little neck of the woods, but it would took a few years. I spent a lot of my free time reading, but the worst time was every four years in the summer when the Democratic and Republican Parties had their nominating conventions and dominated programming on all three channels.

A yawn fest

The Networks ran four nights of nonstop political talk, culminating in their candidate’s acceptance speech. As a little kid in 1976, I cared very little about anything except my favorite TV shows. For one week, no MASH; Baa, Baa Black Sheep. No Grizzly Adams or One Day at a Time.

With no other choices, I was forced to watch the conventions. I got to see Jimmy Carter, a U.S. Naval Academy graduate, Navy officer, peanut farmer, and a former state senator and governor of Georgia from 1971 to 1975, for the first time.

A gentleman among thieves

He didn’t look or sound like a politician. First, he had a southern drawl and he looked like he might be an usher at my church or the guy calling bingo at my town’s annual fireman’s festival, raising money for a new truck.

When he spoke, he talked about issues in a way that even a kid like me could understand. Was I a tax-and-spend Liberal or a stay-out-of-my-pocketbook Conservative? I certainly didn’t know. I was just a scrawny kid, I wouldn’t really study politics until I was much older, but I found myself listening for the first time and taking an interest in the political system.

As a dark-horse candidate not well known outside of Georgia, Carter accepted the Democratic nomination and would go onto to defeat incumbent Republican President Gerald Ford in the 1976 U.S. Presidential election.  

Giving of yourself

Oh, some challenging days were on their way, including the energy crisis, and lengthy gasoline lines, and the taking of the Iranian hostages, and I wouldn’t always agree with him, but Carter never gave up. He brokered peace between Egypt and Israel, ending 31 years of violence and war, and when he got ousted from office after just one term, he reminded us what it means to be graceful in defeat and the power of giving back by role modeling service to Habitat for Humanity and other groups.

CNN ran a few photos from Carter’s life this week celebrating his 99th birthday. I couldn’t help but think back to that Thursday night many, many moons ago when I listened to Carter speak passionately about issues that he cared about and learned that a politician . . . could be a gentleman too.