After a day of tubing outside the Great Smokies, we finally pulled into Grandpa and Grandma Swanson's home in northeast Georgia. Was it good to see them! While Matthew and I have seen them during our visits to Minnesota, it was our first visit to their house in Gainesville in several years. It was also the first time they'd seen Lisa since she was eight! 
While we were there, Dad took us out on the pontoon on beautiful Lake Lanier (the lake with the most shoreline in the US) and we went swimming off one of the small islands in the lake, Matthew whooped Grandpa in chess, and Mom (aka Grandma) outdid herself in cooking (including her famous potato salad). We also got to attend Dad's Sunday School class and hear the master teacher at work. And we got together several times with Matthew's cousin, Jenae, born 5 days after him, and her parents—my sister, Julie, and her husband, Dave. (Jenae whooped Matthew in chess.) We also drove down to Atlanta and visited Emory University and the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum one day (be still my heart!). 
The Carter Museum chronicled Carter's life from boyhood to the present. And what a life it's been! From working on the farm as a young boy through a career in the navy, running the family farm, state senator, state governorship, presidency, and his work through the Carter Center, the man has been unafraid of hard work. Through a failed bid at governship (losing to an outspoken racist, no less), to a failed second run for presidency, he has known failure and yet not withdrawn into retirement.
Instead, he and Rosalynn together have boosted recognition for Habitat for Humanity, and established the Carter Center with a three-fold goal of eliminating the most common tropical diseases, supporting democracy and human rights, and negotiating peaceful settlements. Any one of those efforts would be a worthy effort! No wonder the Nobel Committee chose to give him the Nobel Peace Prize! The Carter Center has worked in over 70 countries thus far. Some of it's accomplishments have been the near elimination of the excruciating guinea worm disease, the monitoring of countless elections in sensitive political situations, and the negotiation of multiple ceasefires and peace agreements. Carter has won the trust of leaders with whom others have been unable to negotiate because they know he is committed to the peace process. He is also able to negotiate as a representative of the Carter Center rather than the US government, saving face the parties involved. The recent release of the US hostage by North Korea is merely the most recent example. Rosalynn, too, has been involved in much of this as well as her own work promoting mental health care. 
The highlight of our time in Georgia was getting to visit Plains, Georgia with my parents and attend Carter's Sunday School class at Maranatha Baptist Church. Yes, we got to see and hear him teach! There were 300 visitors that day which filled the sanctuary. After the Sunday School class and the church service, Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter were gracious enough to pose outside the church for photos with each of the visitors that day. What humility! Can you imagine any other head of state posing for photos with hundreds of ordinary visitors? Several times a month?! So we got a group photo of our family with President & Mrs. Carter which we will treasure forever. Not because he was once the president but because he/they are two of our greatest heroes.
We concluded our time in Georgia with a tour through the Habitat for Humanity Global Village in Americus—their international headquarters. Americus is next to Plains, also in southwest Georgia. The Global Village is a brilliantly conceived opportunity to experience different types of housing around the world. 
First, the slums, shacks, and shantys in which millions of the world's poor live. Walking through the slum housing & imagining living in it certainly brings the poverty home. Then, you get to walk through homes from different countries of the world—homes that Habitat for Humanity builds in those countries. Mauritania, South Africa, Nigeria, Tanzania, Haiti, Sri Lanka, and more: each home is constructed of different materials with the cost given. It was fascinating to see the different styles of homes that each country has.
Overall, Georgia will probably be my favorite state we'll have visited. The national parks have been breathtaking. But we got to see President Carter.
No comments:
Post a Comment