(I make a point to post once a month on this blog. So I started a post a couple of hours ago, but now I want to hang out with all three of my kids on New Year's Eve, because having them all together in our home at this point is an event that has become exceedingly rare.
So if I don't make it before midnight with the other post, enjoy this copy and paste from a Facebook post I wrote earlier today. That counts, right? It will have to.)
I'm sad about the passing of Jimmy Carter, although I feel like he was ready to go.
I had to explain to my kids over dinner the other night who he was. We talked about the concerns for the environment that he addressed, his selling his peanut farm to avoid any appearance of conflict of interest, and the failed attempt to rescue the hostages in Iran (even though Ian said it was a good strategy, there was just bad luck involved). My kids were most shocked by the idea that Reagan had the solar panels on the white house removed that had been installed under Carter, since it costs more to do that than leave them, so it was incredibly petty.
I had to explain to my kids over dinner the other night who he was. We talked about the concerns for the environment that he addressed, his selling his peanut farm to avoid any appearance of conflict of interest, and the failed attempt to rescue the hostages in Iran (even though Ian said it was a good strategy, there was just bad luck involved). My kids were most shocked by the idea that Reagan had the solar panels on the white house removed that had been installed under Carter, since it costs more to do that than leave them, so it was incredibly petty.
And there is of course a Simpsons quote for everything, and Springfield had a statue of Jimmy Carter with the phrase "Malaise Forever" inscribed under it, and someone there called him "History's greatest monster!" which of course now in the age where satire is dead is something some actual people on conservative stations seem to be saying, rather than appreciating all the good he put into the world from Habitat for Humanity to helping eradicate guinea worm through his foundation.
Anyway, seems like a good moment to share how when Ian and I got married many years ago, my dad suggested we send a few invitations to famous people. Because why not? The white house always sends new couples a little certificate if they get a wedding invitation, so we did that. I also sent invitations to Oliver Sacks, Sting, Miss Manners, J.D. Salinger, and the Carters. I included a note saying weddings are occasions where we want people who are important to us to be there, and sometimes that includes people we've never even met, and in that spirit would they please know they would be welcome to join the event.
The main reason for sending one to Miss Manners was because she had written a column about how she was opposed to RSVP return cards. She believed if someone was nice enough to invite you to their wedding, you should respond on your own stationery. So she was the only one who did not get an RSVP card, and her assistant did indeed write back on special stationery explaining Miss Manners would be out of the country at that time, but appreciated the invite.
Getting people to actually return those cards is incredibly frustrating. My brother Arno never did return his because he found that amusing. But you know who did send back that little card with the "no" box ticked? Jimmy Carter. That makes me smile every time I think of it.
He's earned his rest. I hope we have another president as kind as he was again.
