"The Charbor Chronicles": President Jimmy Carter Visits Yale & Princeton

Jimmy Carter during a brief break in between signings of books.

Yes, that's right.

President Jimmy Carter is in town, and he is back to signing books and discussing his most recent book "A Call to Action" in these last couple of days, even though the book was actually published many months ago, earlier in the year.

Everyone who knows me also knows that I am a big fan of President Jimmy Carter. Carter has become an inspiration to many, myself included. He is a tirelessly selfless man who gives so much of himself to causes for a greater good. His idealism has not always won him fans, but what makes him unique has been his pure approach to this idealism. Others may use the illusion of idealism in order to advance their own agenda, but Carter's conduct has been so far beyond reproach, that it is a breath of fresh air in an era when corruption and transparent and excessive ambition and self-interest have disgusted a vast majority of Americans time and again, no matter what their political leanings may be.

I only learned about Carter's local appearances very late in November (Thanksgiving day, I believe). That left me with only a few days to work with. The Princeton appearance was sold out, but his appearance at New Haven, Connecticut still had tickets left (at least the book signing), so I was able to get one.

It was a rainy, crappy late autumn day that felt more like winter than anything. There were forecasts of snow and hail for later in the afternoon and into the evening, which made me worry enough that I gave pause for thought. Was it a good idea to drive all the way out to New Haven to go see him? But what if the weather was not as bad as some were suggesting? It seemed that some forecasts were predicting really horrible weather including hail, while others were suggesting that it would be mostly rain, and that it was just a bit too warm for the icy stuff. It was strange. But he is now 90 years old! How many opportunities will I have to see him? I definitely want to see him more, but have to capitalize on the opportunities when they come. So, I took my chances, and drove up to Connecticut.

The drive was not so bad, although it was the drive back that I was most worried about. I got there in plenty of time. Early, in fact. I went on line, which was pretty near the door, and stood there in the cold for a little over an hour, reading my beat up copy of An Outdoor Journal, which I brought with me just to pass the time. Obviously, when you go to a booksigning for President Carter, there will be a line, and you will have to wait. This was not my first time doing this, so I knew to bring something to read. It was cold, and my hands were pretty chilly by the time it was all said and done. But otherwise, no worse for the wear.

The time came (in fact, it felt like it might have been a few minutes early), and we began to move forward. Within minutes, I was inside of the building and, a couple of minutes after that, we were ushered into a side room, where President Carter was signing books. I had been told that he would be signing only new copies of his most recent book sold by the bookstore sponsoring this event. But the took my old copy of An Outdoor Journal, which was a pleasant surprise. Two books signed, not just one! Very nice!

The last time that I saw him, we actually had something resembling an actual conversation. He wanted to talk to my son, who was with me at the time, but my son was hardly the conversationalist. So, he turned to me and told me to take care of him, and I said that I most certainly would do that.

This time, he looked at An Outdoor Journal, smiled, and said "Good book!" I am not even entirely certain that he was talking to me, or to anyone else around him. Just one of those things that you kind of say to yourself out loud, I think. And my response was to smile, and maybe grunt something incoherent, which is my usual fallback position in such situations.

We were told just before entering that no pictures would be allowed. But I saw people, after they had gotten their books autographed, standing over to the side and snap some pictures. So, I decided to do the same. I was thankful this time around not to have taken the more serious, and far heavier, camera. Just my cell phone, and that was going to have to do. No, the pictures did not come out great. But it is still just a thrill to see this man, and especially to get his autograph, even if I did not manage to actually get tickets to either of his speaking engagements, either at Yale or at Princeton.

However, I was presented the opportunity to see both, and read some articles about each appearance, as well. The Yale University speech and conversation (it was a bit of a strange format) is already on Youtube, and so I thought it would be good to present it here, so that you, the reader, can view it and judge it on your own. As for the Princeton appearance on the next day, I went to the campus, to the McKosh Hall right next to University Chapel, where some rooms would show the speech by Jimmy Carter.

Carter was honored before his speech at Princeton. I will get to this in time, but for now, let me briefly add this from the article Carter calls for better treatment of girls and women around the world by Michael Hotchkiss, Office of Communications for Princeton University, December 4, 2014- see link at: http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S41/77/24S37/index.xml?section=topstories

Alison Boden, dean of religious life and the chapel, introduced Carter as "a person of profound religious faith."

"My humble observation of him is that he believes religion is about what is noblest in human beings," Boden said. "It is what calls us to our highest purposes and brings us closest to the divine. The manipulation of religion to support human rights abuses is its deepest betrayal."

Following Boden's introduction, the University's Whig-Cliosophic Society, the world's oldest college political, literary and debate society, awarded Carter its James Madison Award for Distinguished Public Service, highlighting the work of the Carter Center, established by the former president in 1982, in advancing human rights and alleviating human suffering around the world.

"While every president has accomplishments to be proud of from their time in office, few have continued to serve the public with such dedication and vigor since leaving office," said Adam Tcharni, president of the group and a member of the Class of 2015. "President Carter revolutionized what it meant to be a former president."

Adam Tcharni mused that upon retiring from the White House in the first half of the 19th century, John Quincy Adams had said that there was nothing so pathetic as an ex-president. But he mentioned - rightly, I think - that Jimmy Carter redefined what it meant to be a former president. His is surely the most successful ex-presidency in history, and by far, I would imagine. As Americans, we should be thankful to have had such a man represent us in such a positive manner, even while some of the sitting presidents and other political leaders were so transparently corrupt, self-indulgent and narrow-minded. I believe this nation should be honored that he served as our president.

Carter spoke at length from the pulpit of Princeton's University Chapel on the subject matter of his last book for both appearances, which is about oppression of girls and women around the world. I already wrote a fairly lengthy article on the content of his speech, especially at Princeton, since I took notes while watching it. Please go ahead and click on the link below to read it in full. It, too, has the video link to his Yale appearance.

In the interest of space, and getting the article published in a relatively timely manner, there were some things that I had to keep out, although the article is probably my longest article on that online newspaper. One of them includes the statistics that reveal the extent of how much China and India are now paying for preferring boys over girls, which I found tragic. In India, there are 112 boys for every 100 girls, while in China, there are 118 boys for every 100 girls. To have young men with all of that excess energy, and probably a lack of prospects, coupled with a lack of young women their age, surely makes life there less than ideal, one would imagine.

Seeing such an inspiration on what has come to be known as "Giving Tuesday" of all days was pretty cool! To me, he remains a source of incredible inspiration. A tireless advocate of making this world a better place in any and every way that he could. Again, he is 90 years old! Yet, he has visited over 140 countries, and works physically and intellectually the world over to try and do his part to improve conditions the world over. His religious convictions, I believe, as true and run deep, guiding his conduct and prevailing over the baser instincts that most of the rest of us regularly give in to. I can hardly think of anyone else that can compare with this man as a role model, and believe that he is, in the truest sense, the model American. A solid blend of idealism and pragmatism. It strikes me how he can speak so candidly to such huge audiences, without pulling punches or giving the "PC" arguments and excuses for everything, and still be so widely respected! He just has a way about him, and it is hard not to admire him.

Here is the link to my article:

http://guardianlv.com/2014/12/jimmy-carter-blasts-ivy-league-colleges-on-sex-assault/