I was heading out of Sur La Table when an older, white, man came through the door in a bright red, down jacket and a matching MAGA hat. He made a big bluster about coming into the store. Something came over me as I passed him and the word tumbled out of my mouth: criminal.
As I opened the door, my back to him now, he retorted with: liberal bitch.
Ah, there it was. Again, something rose in me and I turned around at the door, saw the back of the ridiculous red hat with tufts of white hair beneath and said, "Yes, and proud of it."
I'd been running errands in and out of the car quite a bit, listening to eulogies for Jimmy Carter. The first one was a smiling voice talking about 1976 and his opponent. The voice sounded familiar and I wondered if Gerald Ford was still alive. I would learn that Ford's son, Steve delivered that eulogy written before his father's death.
And throughout the morning there were others: grandchildren, Stuart Eizenstadt, the son of Walter Mondale.. At each snippet of a speech, it was not lost on me that the juxtaposition of walking through the doors of an upscale cooking store only to be met by a blaring reminder of what's to come, irritated me.
My first presidential vote was for Jimmy Carter. I was 19 years old. It wasn't the first political campaign I was invested in though, because two years prior I had campaigned for the father of a schoolmate who became the mayor of my hometown. During that time, I also couldn't get enough of the Watergate Hearings. What sixteen-year-old girl does that? Apparently one who would be engaged for years to come. When I finally had the right to vote, I proudly caste it for Jimmy Carter. He was a common man unlike what we witnessed in "Tricky Dick." Was I jaded. Of course. I watched the Watergate Hearings believing that this man would land in jail and by voting for a true and honest man like Jimmy Carter, the political and governmental ship would be righted.
To hear person after person recount Carter's life and accomplishments was absolutely phenomenal for me. To know that there once was a man that I respected enough to give my vote to who actually modeled humility. He instilled in me that this is not about us, but about a greater world, one in which we have a responsibility to act with a moral compass honed on truth.
It was so fascinating to listen to those close to Jimmy, his children, his grandchildren. Not an unkind word, not an edge to anyone's voice. Even when grandson Jason said that his grandfather was the first millennial, the true measure of Carter's accomplishment could not be eclipsed by what happened in 1980 for our country.
The man who started a movement would be voted out of office and replaced by a man who's claim to fame was being the star of B movies playing opposite a chimpanzee. In1980, as a twenty-three-year old, I lapsed into a mindset of Who gives a s*** when it came to politics because it cheapened this institution of a country that forty years before had been threatened.
Now our country must face the fact that another chimpanzee, or is he an orangutan. He struts and beats his chest, kowtowing to the whims of greed. Performing for a select few.
It's a sad testament to our America of today.
In a world that feels like we're doomed, we're hopeless, I want to believe in the fiber of Jimmy Carter and how it has extended far beyond the Carter center and the 3500 employees. As I listened to the good works of that organization during his funeral, images of Jimmy and Rosalind working side by side building houses, much the way my husband and I had done, well, it just fed my soul.
It feels unconscionable to give up all hope. Just maybe we have a world that will turn on its axis in a way that prevents or minimizes the damage we all feel is coming.
Recently, I've been saying that sequels never measure up to the original movies. I believe that to be true as we face the next few years. One sequel that far exceeded the original was the pathway that Jimmy Carter took after leaving office with a legacy of successes around the world in his post presidency years.
Rest well, Mr. President, but please pray for us.
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