President Carter's best life

I think I read somewhere that all of Jimmy Carter's immediate family (siblings or parents) died relatively young. If I'm not mistaken, I believe they died around their fifties and all from similar causes or an ailment that may have run in the family. It's not an accident therefore that President Carter lived to 100, teaching Sunday school in his nineties and beating brain cancer in his nineties too. This man was destined and meant to live long.

So it was probably in the cards for him to be a one term president too, because his life was intended to have much more purpose that just a job held for 4 to 8 years. When his death was announced, the media predictably but disappointingly summed his life up based on a "complicated" or "failed" presidency, ignoring all his experiences and achievements beyond the white house.

Jimmy Carter did more pre and post presidency than he could have ever done in 4 or 8 years, yet there's that urge to just simplify someone down to a job or a career.?

First and foremost, Jimmy Carter built an exceptional marriage and life with Rosalynn. His enduring and loving partnership with her was the foundation for all that he did. We all know about the incredible volunteer/ambassador work with Habitat for Humanity. I'm sure this organization could not have become a household name without the support of the Carters. We also have the aforementioned teaching of Sunday school up until some years ago, which he seemed to relish. And what he's probably most appreciated for in terms of a post-political career: the creation of the Carter Center-the standard bearer for post-presidential institutions.

As I have been making my way through my career, I have started examining how career can consume life. It becomes intertwined with identity and becomes all you are, especially in America and particularly for lawyers. Whether due to burn out or other reasons, over the last few years, career climbing and self-defining & aligning with work has lost its appeal with me. I've decided that it is time to find out what else life has to offer. I see Jimmy Carter's life as an excellent model for how to you can embrace and fulfill life purpose beyond one job. He seemed to have done this with simplicity, grace but also tenacity.

We myopically remember President Carter for what many see as the biggest loss ever- losing badly in his 1980 presidential re-election bid to Ronald Reagan and having to find a new way to pick up the pieces after defeat. But Jimmy Carter already had a history of reinventing himself and pivoting. Many years before he got into politics, he left a burgeoning career in the Navy completely behind to return to his family business when his father died. This move could have simply concluded an everyday story of a humble man running his family peanut farm. Instead it became the foundation of his unlikely political rise and identity.

There are many things to admire about President Carter well beyond politics. One thing is his unique ability to see life for all it has to offer. Jimmy Carter seemed like a man who saw life as more than just one big moment or one big job. He was obviously ambitious, but his life did not hang on the achievement or failure of any given goal.

This ability to embrace all that life has to offer must be one of the keys of how he experienced such a full life. When I think about an elderly man who was once president teaching little children Sunday school or volunteering to construct new homes for the least of us, there is just something so special about that.

President Carter led an incredible life with his wife of almost 80 years, Rosalynn. Besides leaving an incredible legacy, Jimmy Carter's death is a reminder that there is a lot of life to experience and we should not limit ourselves to one moment, job, title or role. His death also reminds us that there is pride in being kind, hard working, flexible yet determined and faithful to the Creator, even when such traits are now out of favor. If we are given the luxury of time, we ought to take it as a sign that there is still something to experience, something to give, something to receive. President Carter you have more than earned your rest.?Thank you and I salute you.