So…

Jimmy Carter ended up being our nations President at an odd time. Heading into the mid-1970’s I think we, as a country, were on our collective heels. There was a lot of reservation around the oil crunch, our Army was weak and potentially ineffective, and the AMC Gremlin was deemed an innovative car (I feel this is all, somehow, insidiously correlative).

In the face of that, Carter’s role will always be an example of a Chinese maybe. I suppose he’ll be remembered for his struggle finishing a 5k run (after months of training yet), being attacked by a rabbit (and this being photographed), pulling the United States out of the 1980 Olympics, and, setting an example as a global diplomat and establishing the bar for international relations – he probably would have made a better Secretary of State. Finally, he just served up Ronald Reagan, who ate his lunch, in a manner of speaking, and then watched the world change, seemingly, over night.

Just an unusual legacy.

However, it’s been fun to watch his impact as a leader actually grow positively since he left the Oval Office. There are many examples of this. However, I’ll focus on just one today. He’s made a courageous stand (and, stood up for females) against his own church and an archaic view of the world that remains all to prevalent (even here in Alpharetta and people you meet walking around North Point Community Church).

You even see it in sports, for Gods’ sake, where Dad’s (Mom’s, too, are guilty of this) will outright dismiss their daughters soccer matches in favor of a son’s football game (and, the little sissies need pads). The look of utter incomprehension, when this topic is broached, is astonishing to me. It just hit me this is fodder for yet another post. So, I’ll not, yet, allow myself this tangental digression.

Read this article: “Jimmy Carter is “Losing his Religion”. Do it! And, I suspect the message will cross over much better than I could ever relay it.

A reminder, here, that I’m neither a Christian (just hip with God), or a feminist (I know where my bread is buttered). What I always am, and first, is a father of two (hearty and ferocious) daughters.

Peace be to my Brothers and Sisters.

Brian Patrick Cork