This is an excellent essay. I think I must play similar games with mortality (although too many of my eternal old men are dead, and my contemporaries seem to die young)
In 1971 mom took me (age 5) and my sister (age 2) to the Georgia State Capitol building to show us where her mother (Granny) worked in the governor's office typing pool.
Afterward, walking down the hall, just the three of us, Mom tenses up, and this man walks up with a warm greeting, shakes my hand and pats my sister on the head.
I had no clue who he was, but I could tell from my mom's vibe, it was important, so I paid close attention.
A few minutes later she told me it was Governor Carter and explained how lucky we had been to happen to meet that way.
So ever since, no matter what the state of politics or recent history, I've followed him, read his books, volunteered a summer at Habitat etc.
Nice work - many thanks. He’ll go from America’s Eminence Gris to Posthumous Legend, and will be keenly missed for his singular combination of dignity, integrity and charity. But mourn him knowing that he departed on good terms with his maker. The last act was always inevitable, but his manner of leaving was up to him and he was aware of that intractable outcome in a way that almost everyone seems determined to look away from and deny even as we crowd our lives with the detritus of material wealth. Remember him fondly for that wisdom, and with gratitude that you have a special reason for recalling it. Maybe he was meant to be a model for us all of how to live a life beyond the pinnacle of socially defined power and success.
This is an excellent essay. I think I must play similar games with mortality (although too many of my eternal old men are dead, and my contemporaries seem to die young)
In 1971 mom took me (age 5) and my sister (age 2) to the Georgia State Capitol building to show us where her mother (Granny) worked in the governor's office typing pool.
Afterward, walking down the hall, just the three of us, Mom tenses up, and this man walks up with a warm greeting, shakes my hand and pats my sister on the head.
I had no clue who he was, but I could tell from my mom's vibe, it was important, so I paid close attention.
A few minutes later she told me it was Governor Carter and explained how lucky we had been to happen to meet that way.
So ever since, no matter what the state of politics or recent history, I've followed him, read his books, volunteered a summer at Habitat etc.
Thanks for this.
Nice work - many thanks. He’ll go from America’s Eminence Gris to Posthumous Legend, and will be keenly missed for his singular combination of dignity, integrity and charity. But mourn him knowing that he departed on good terms with his maker. The last act was always inevitable, but his manner of leaving was up to him and he was aware of that intractable outcome in a way that almost everyone seems determined to look away from and deny even as we crowd our lives with the detritus of material wealth. Remember him fondly for that wisdom, and with gratitude that you have a special reason for recalling it. Maybe he was meant to be a model for us all of how to live a life beyond the pinnacle of socially defined power and success.