What are the most important realities in life? According to Jimmy Carter, the right answer can be found in the words of St. Paul. These realities are the spiritual things that cannot be seen. The former president lists justice, humility, love, and compassion among the unseen qualities that make human life precious.
This was his comment in response to the announcement last week about his winning the Nobel Peace Prize. In the midst of his fellow townspeople of Plains, Georgia – – all 637 of them it seemed – – he was shown on television celebrating the news. Despite his having been honored numerous times previously for his work in bringing peace to various parts of the world, this recognition of his efforts came as especially sweet.
Asked on television to comment on the award, historian Douglas Brinkley said of him: “Jimmy Carter does not wear his religion on his sleeve, but in his heart.”
Zbigniev Brezinsky, his former national security advisor, spoke in admiration of the way Jimmy Carter, when president, “combined the spiritual dimension with the use of power.”
Another commentator, columnist Thomas Oliphant, said that “hundreds of thousands, maybe millions, are alive today because of him.”
According to the Nobel Committee that chose him, Jimmy Carter’s brokering of the accords between Israel and Egypt in 1978 could have won him the peace prize by itself. That mediation brought about a peace between those two countries that has endured through many crises, although it is seriously threatened today.
After retirement from the presidency in 1981, Mr. Carter has traveled to far sections of the world, in the cause of peace. His work of conflict resolution and election monitoring in Ethiopia, North Korea, Bosnia, Sudan, and Uganda, among other places has won him the world’s admiration.
To each site he brings the prestige of a former president along with an ability to listen to all sides. The charm of his famous smile also must win him friends who see in him the power of benevolence.
Some consider his greatest achievement in this era to be persuading the military junta in Haiti to step down, thus saving that small nation a bloody confrontation involving United States military forces.
So this is a man eminently deserving of the world’s most honored peace prize. The only question about it is why it was so long coming.
What strikes me as deserving of attention is not only the scope of this man’s achievement, astounding though this certainly is. But I like to focus on President Carter’s motivation. He is a man who lives by the spirit. His religious heritage continues to be the most important force in his life.
Carter is not simply a do-gooder. His service of others gives every evidence of coming from a deeply rooted love of God and other human beings. Steeped in the Bible and the teachings of his Baptist tradition, he believes in using his personal gifts for the benefit of others. His is a classic spirituality that sees in other people other Christs and gives highest priority to their service.
At a press conference in Orlando three years ago, I had the opportunity to see him answer questions from journalists interested in the subject of aging. I also asked him a question of my own, about whether, with the advance of years, his ideas of God had changed.
In response, he indicated that his ideas had indeed changed and he went on to talk more broadly about his spiritual life. Having taught Sunday school since the age of 18, Carter reflects on the teachings of his faith. As he approaches the end of life, he thinks more about the hereafter. “Members of my family,” he noted, “have approached the end of life with a very healthy attitude, with a sense of humor.”
He then added: “I think that whether or not we believe in life after death, we do have to face the prospect of what we’re going to do in our final days, how we’re going to be a blessing instead of a curse to the people we leave behind.”
As the Nobel Peace Prize confirms, Jimmy Carter has already been a blessing to a whole lot of people.
Richard Griffin