Dear Dad,
We share a love of history. The rich stories, brilliant leaders, complex dynamics, and of course the lessons to be gleaned from it all. Last week a former President made history. Let’s explore.
On October 1, 2024, Jimmy Carter became the first U.S. president to live to be 100 years old. What can we learn about our own longevity by a quick review of the life of James Earl Carter, Jr? Well first of all, he is now too old to play with Legos…
Reaching 100 years old is culture’s designation of a life well lived and for good reason, as only .03% of the population has reached 100 and out of that small number only 22% are men. Making it to 100 involves some luck, however, there are many factors in your control that are found consistently in the longest lived people. Let’s explore 5 habits that surely played a role in President Carter reaching this milestone and that could make a difference in the length and quality of your life too.
Intellectual Curiosity
Jimmy Carter was always looking for new challenges. He took school seriously and worked hard to be accepted to the Naval Academy as a kid from rural Georgia. Carter was a nuclear engineer and served as a lieutenant on submarines in both the Atlantic and the Pacific. When Carter’s father unexpectedly passed, Carter resigned his naval commission and returned home to take over the family farm. He and his wife, Rosalyn, opened a general purpose seed and farm equipment supply company and Carter became a central community figure. Carter was later elected a state senator, governor, and President. When Carter left the white house in 1981, he opened the Carter Center to continue mediating international conflicts, took up a professorship at Emory University, and devoted countless hours to community service building projects. Jimmy Carter is always challenging his mind and you should too.
Activity
Jimmy Carter was and remained active. Carter described himself as an avid runner until his 80’s at which point he switched to swimming and walking. Carter’s roots as a farmer instilled the capacity for hard work and physical activity. The Carters “liked to ride bikes in their hometown as well as on trips across the country and abroad. The former president also enjoyed fly-fishing and woodworking.” Jimmy Carter is always active and you should be too.
Faith
Jimmy Carter is a man of deep faith. Dedicating oneself to a divine purpose puts focus on gratitude, humility, and helps people with stress management. “Since leaving the White House in 1981 until 2020, Carter regularly taught Sunday school at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia, where he and Rosalyn attended services.”1 Carter also devoted a lot of his time to charitable work as an act of service and built houses across the globe for Habitat for Humanity well into his 90’s. Carter said, “I’ve had many experience in my life and in Christian work, in business, government, and politics. I’ve traveled almost everywhere in the world, and I do not know anything I’ve ever seen that more vividly illustrates love in action than Habitat for Humanity.” Jimmy Carter cultivates a deep faith and you should too.
Simple Living
After leaving the White House, the Carters returned to their home in Plains, Georgia, where they both grew up, and have lived in the same one-story home they built in the early 1960s, before Carter’s first election to the Georgia state Senate.2 Carter renovated a cabin himself in the mountains for him and Rosalyn to vacation. He taught Sunday School each week and has four living kids, many grandkids, and great-grandkids. Jimmy Carter’s life is centered around the important things and you should structure your life in that way too.
Living With Purpose
I think one of his biographers said it best, “Jimmy Carter used the presidency as a stepping stone for what he really wanted to do in life.”—which was serve others, teach the next generation, and mediate world peace through the Carter Center. The Carter Center works to advance human rights and alleviate human suffering and was the main way Jimmy remained active in world affairs. They would station representatives to watch over democratic elections in nations where this was a first. In 2002, President Carter received the Nobel Peace Prize for his work “to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development” through The Carter Center. For his whole life, Jimmy Carter made it a point to serve, to teach, and bring people from diverse backgrounds with divergent goals to the same table table.
Carter’s days are numbered, although he entered hospice 19 months ago and declined any future medical intervention believing the end was near, but his grandson reports his physical status has not changed since. Whenever his time comes, politics aside, I think the only evaluation of the life of Jimmy Carter will be a life fully lived.
We have to add Atlanta to our tour of Presidential Libraries!
With Love
JSR
https://www.today.com/health/men-s-health/jimmy-carter-turns-100-longevity-habits-rcna173018
https://apnews.com/article/jimmy-carter-100th-birthday-1e540c277dea07bd84242d290b4ebcdc#