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Michael Cianchette is a Navy reservist who served in Afghanistan. He is in-house counsel to a number of businesses in southern Maine and was a chief counsel to former Gov. Paul LePage.
Need a New Year’s Resolution? Be more like Jimmy Carter.
With only a few misguided exceptions, the former president’s passing was met with respectful remorse. Policy disagreements are one thing. But, by and large, everyone recognized he was a good man.
He spent more than 70 years married to the love of his life. He didn’t buy a mansion on Martha’s Vineyard or a nearly $3 million brick abode in the heart of Washington. Instead, he moved back to his humble home in Georgia after he left the White House.
He put his hands to work with Habitat for Humanity. More than 4,000 families are reported to have roofs over their heads from his efforts.
You don’t have to agree with Carter’s politics to say that he lived a successful life. But would emulating Carter be recognized as a successful life today?
That question points towards another one: “What Happens When a Whole Generation Never Grows Up?” The Wall Street Journal published an essay on New Year’s Eve with that provocative headline.
The gist of the story? American millennials are, by financial metrics, actually doing pretty well. Full-time wages for 35-to-44 year olds are up 16 percent from 2000 to 2024, over-and-above inflation. Inflation-adjusted household wealth for that age cohort is up more than 60 percent since Taylor Swift’s birth in 1989.
Yet the numbers of millennials hitting traditional “adult” milestones — marriage, homeownership, and children — has dropped precipitously compared to earlier generations. The reasons for that are complex and interconnected.
But one part of the puzzle starts with the question of what makes a good life.
Instagram “influencers” share hyper-curated experiences of seemingly everything. The less-than-flattering aspects get chopped off. This leads to “FOMO,” the fear of missing out.
That FOMO creates the expectation that everyone should live the imaginary lives presented on social media. And when people compare their own lives to these non-existent unattainable ideals, it leads to negative mental health impacts and unrealistic expectations about what “success” looks like.
Contrast an influencer with former President Carter.
His home in Georgia was pretty simple. Although now owned by the federal government to be made into a museum, Zillow suggests it is worth around $250,000. A presidential pension makes it easier to live in a less prosperous area, but his house was fairly average compared to others sold in the town.
When we look at happiness research, Carter hit a lot of the milestones. Physical activity, like exercise or hard work, is incredibly important for happiness. Volunteering to help others is good for your own well being. Social relationships are critical; human beings are not meant to be solitary.
As someone demographically classified as an “elder millennial,” I’ve managed to hit the adulthood trifecta. As someone in the millennial generation, I was born after Carter’s presidency. I learned about the “malaise speech” and “sweater speech” as part of modern history class, not first-hand.
Yet, because of that, the “Carter Administration” was a historical chapter akin to the “Johnson Administration” or the “Eisenhower Administration.” In terms of direct experience, Carter was seen building houses and teaching Sunday school. He was the guy playfully calling after his wife of 70-plus years.
In short, he seemed like a man who was happy. He lived a good life. If it was curated on Instagram, it probably wouldn’t get a ton of views or reactions. There is not a lot of FOMO from watching a reel of a 90-year-old framing a wall.
But as Carter said in the “malaise speech,” “in a nation that was proud of hard work, strong families, close-knit communities, and our faith in God, too many of us now tend to worship self-indulgence and consumption.”
He was right about that — and it still holds true. Carter modeled the better angels of America and his example is worth following. Rest in peace, Mr. President.
