A Habitat for Humanity hard hat is among the items left in tribute to former President Jimmy Carter at the entrance to the Jimmy Carter Presidential Center Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024, in Atlanta. Carter died Sunday at he age of 100. (AP Photo/John Bazemore )

I’m a pessimist about politicians, I’ll admit it. Those I’ve encountered who seem to be genuine public servants and decent human beings — more interested in doing their jobs for their constituents than on behalf of the leaders of their chosen party or the bureaucracy — are the exceptions rather than the rule. But they do exist.

And every presidential election cycle I am reminded that I am deeply suspicious of ANYONE who thinks so highly of themselves that they believe they are capable of serving in what is (arguably) the most powerful position in the world.

That’s why I’ve always been fascinated by the Jimmy Carter presidency. I am old enough to have nothing more than vague memories of people talking about the Reagan years being a dramatic and intentional departure from the Carter era. And they are talking about more than simply Carter putting solar panels on the White House, and Reagan having them removed in about the same spirit as the removal of the Ws from White House keyboards many years later.

From what we are remembering about him in the wake of his death, Carter may have been too good of a person to serve in that office. Goodness, what does that say about us and the country we built? (Or, maybe, what does it say about the world in which he was trying to lead us? I don’t know.)

The Guardian did an analysis that highlighted Carter’s humility, lack of ego, crusade for human rights, love of freedom and democracy, his phenomenal relationship with Rosalynn, and his deep faith.

That’s the kind of person most of us would admire greatly, even want to have in our circles, in the real world.

He and his wife built houses for others — literally, still doing some of the heavy lifting into old age for Habitat for Humanity. In a twist that may come as a surprise given his status as a Georgia Baptist Sunday school teacher, he was a career-long advocate for women’s rights. (Because, again, women are people; and Carter understood that as humans we were just supposed to always be striving to the right thing for each other.)

Regarding global abuses of women: rape and violence in war, trafficking, infanticide and an epidemic of sexual assault at universities, Carter, during a 2014 interview, told a writer for The Guardian, “This is something on which I’m going to continue to work with a very high degree of my priority for the rest of my life.” And he did, pulling no punches — because, he was also an honest and direct man — when he said the state of women’s rights in the United States is “an embarrassment to our country, but it’s not changing.”

Jimmy and Rosalynn were a team. They fought to eradicate diseases, always campaigning for better global public health.

I could go on and on. A lot of writers have over the past several days. But to get back to my point, this man, who almost everyone agrees was among the better humans to have ever sat in the Oval Office, is considered to have had a below-average-at-best presidency.

Why? Were his Camp David Accords, meant to build a framework for peace in the Middle East, overwhelmed by the realities of that part of the world? (Realities no president before or since has been able to grasp, by the way).

Had Vietnam and Watergate left Washington, D.C., too scarred to be able to work with a man like Carter? He understood he hadn’t been able to effect the change that would have defeated record stagflation, and he told multiple interviewers he regretted not having sent one more aircraft to rescue hostages in April 1980. He knew he could have done things differently.

But maybe the U.S. wasn’t ready then for Carter’s “politics of love.” It sure doesn’t seem like it’s ready for that now, either.

What a shame.

But maybe more of us should be ready to do what Carter did, when he realized he wasn’t going to make the difference he wanted through politics. He and his family, as private individuals, went to work. They found organizations and causes about which they were passionate and tried their best simply to help humans. It’s impossible to estimate how many lives they might have changed.

It’s a good message for those who right now are thrilled with the idea that a new presidential administration might drastically reduce the size of the federal government. Perhaps you do not believe it is government’s job to offer … it doesn’t matter whether you call it a hand up or a hand out, the result is often the same. If so, then Carter has set an incredibly high bar for you in getting to work to extend that hand, yourself. Get to it.

Christina Myer is executive editor of The Parkersburg News and Sentinel. She can be reached via e-mail at cmyer@newsandsentinel.com