The BDN Editorial Board operates independently from the newsroom, and does not set policies or contribute to reporting or editing articles elsewhere in the newspaper or on bangordailynews.com.
Even in death, Jimmy Carter is bringing people together.
The former president’s death at 100 has led to an outpowering of remembrances and overwhelming respect. People who can’t seem to agree on anything else are finding common cause in celebrating the life and legacy of a man who lived many lifetimes in one, wearing many hats but always with a mind toward helping others.
Both President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump honored their departed former president this week.
“President Jimmy Carter is dead at 100 years of age. While I strongly disagreed with him philosophically and politically, I also realized that he truly loved and respected our Country, and all it stands for,” Trump wrote on social media, as reported by CBS News. “He worked hard to make America a better place, and for that I give him my highest respect. He was a truly good man and, of course, will be greatly missed.”
“With his compassion and moral clarity, he worked to eradicate disease, forge peace, advance civil rights and human rights, promote free and fair elections, house the homeless, and always advocate for the least among us,” Biden said in a statement together with first lady Jill Biden. “He saved, lifted, and changed the lives of people all across the globe.”
Carter himself fielded many questions about his legacy while still alive, so we don’t have to wonder what he hoped to be remembered for: pursuing peace whenever possible.
And he was relentless in that pursuit, whether in helping to forge the Camp David Accords and other foreign policy advancements, working to help ensure fair elections around the world, or building homes for people to have safe and dignified lives, to name just a few examples.
It is perhaps the simplest and strongest thing to say about Carter, that he cared about people, and put that compassion into action again and again. And he mobilized other people, other organizations and even other countries to act as well. Maine officials have recognized that impact as part of the many statements honoring Carter this week.
“As a peacemaker and a humanitarian, he left behind a powerful and inspiring legacy,” U.S. Sen. Susan Collins said.
“From his early days as a sailor with the United States Navy to the White House, President Carter personified our true American values,” U.S. Sen. Angus King said.
“At 100, America’s longest living president maintained a commitment to election integrity, fighting poverty, and environmental protection until his last days,” U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree said.
Gov. Janet Mills called Carter “the moral conscience of a nation whose words and deeds demonstrated that the human capacity for kindness and goodness is limitless.” Mills directed that state flags be lowered in Carter’s honor. Biden has designated Jan. 9 as a national day of mourning, and ordered flags to be flown at half staff across the country until Jan. 28.
In addition to a day of mourning and a month of lowered flags, we can honor Jimmy Carter’s legacy by making 2025 a year of peacemaking. He is no longer with us, but his commitment to peace around the world is still desperately needed. From Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine to the horrific Hamas attack on Israel and the perpetuated human carnage of Israel’s disproportionate response — and sadly, many other examples of conflict — we live in a global moment that cries out for peacemaking.
It is right and good for leaders to celebrate Carter and his legacy. They can truly honor that legacy, not just with words, but by building on his relentless pursuit of peace.
