Jimmy Carter - The Virtues of Aging

Also by Jimmy Carter

Sources of Strength

Living Faith

Turning Point: A Candidate, a State, and a Nation Come of Age

Talking Peace: A Vision for the Next Generation

An Outdoor Journal

Everything to Gain: Making the Most of the Rest of Your Life
(with Rosalynn Carter)

The Blood of Abraham: Insights into the Middle East

Keeping Faith: Memoirs of a President

A Government as Good as Its People

Why Not the Best?

P OETRY

Always a Reckoning

F OR C HILDREN

The Little Baby Snoogle-Fleejer

(with Amy Carter)

The Library of Contemporary Thought Published by The Ballantine Publishing Group

Copyright 1998 by Jimmy Carter

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by The Ballantine Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.

http://www.randomhouse.com/BB/

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

Carterjimmy, 1924
The virtues of aging / Jimmy Carter. 1st ed.
p. cm. (The library of contemporary thought)
eISBN: 978-0-307-76466-9
1. AgingSocial aspects. 2. AgingPsychological aspects. 3. AgingGovernment policy. I. Title. II. Series: Library of contemporary thought (Ballantine Publishing Group)
HQ1061.C354 1998
305.26dc21

98-25298

579B864

v3.1

To my father, Earl, my brother, Billy, and my sisters,
Gloria and Ruth, all of whom died too young; and
to my mother, Lillian, who demonstrated the virtues of aging.

Id like to thank my editor, Peter Gethers, and others who helped me with this manuscript: Nessa Rapaport, Dr. Ken Dychtwald, Dr. Bill Foege, Faye Dill, Dr. Steve Hochman, and my wife, Rosalynn.

With one exception, as noted, the quotations at the beginning of each chapter have come from the late Jimmy Townsend, my personal friend and a wonderful mountain philosopher, whose books and weekly columns have delighted southerners for many years.

In thinking about the books title, Rosalynn and I discussed the meaning of the word virtue and decided that both basic definitions were applicable: a particularly beneficial advantage and an inherent quality that is admirable. In other words, the virtues of aging include both the blessings that come to us as we grow older and what we have to offer that might be beneficial to others.

E VEN BEFORE LEAVING the White House, Rosalynn and I received a notice from the American Association of Retired Persons that we were qualified for membership, but we considered ourselves too young to face the stigma of senior citizenship. However, once back in Plains the point was to be driven home most firmly and clearly. We live 120 miles south of Atlanta and habitually drive back and forth to The Carter Center and to Emory University, where I am a professor. One morning we left our house quite early and stopped to eat breakfast in Thomaston, Georgia, about halfway to Atlanta. There were four of us in the car, and we all ordered about the same thing. But when the waitress brought my bill, I noticed that it was less than the others. Perhaps seeking credit for being an honest customer, I called her back and began to tell her that she had made a mistake. An older farmer, dressed in overalls, was sitting at a nearby table and apparently overheard my conversation. He looked over at us and called out in a loud voice, Your bill aint no mistake, Mr. President. Before eight oclock they give free coffee to senior citizens.

A wave of laughter began at our table, and it still resonated through the restaurant as I paid my bill and hurried back to the car. For several weeks afterward, every time we approached Thomaston I knew that someone would say, Why dont we stop here for breakfast? Theres free coffee for some of us!

I N THE YEARS since returning home, Rosalynn and I have been through some severe tests and have struggled to find the best way to retain our self-confidence, evolve an interesting and challenging life, and build better relations with other people. As weve grown older the results have been surprisingly good.

The first time I fully realized how much our lives had changed was when I approached my seventieth birthday. In one of her hourlong special interviews, Barbara Walters covered all the aspects of my life, from the farm to submarines, from business to the governors mansion, service in the White House, and from president back home to Plains. Then she asked me a question that required some serious thought: Mr. President, you have had a number of exciting and challenging careers. What have been your best years? After a few moments I responded with absolute certainty: Now is the best time of all. She was surprised, and asked, Why?

I fumbled with some thoughts about time for reflection, spending more time with my family, and a chance to correct some of my former errors. Afterward I realized how inadequate my glib, thirty-second answer had been, and I discussed with Rosalynn how profoundly differentand pleasantwas the reality of our senior years.

This book is my expanded attempt, based on our personal experiences, to answer that questionto describe, in effect, the virtues of aging.

Experience is what youve got plenty of
when youre no longer able to hold the job.

I WAS JUST FIFTY-SIX years old when I was involuntarily retired from my position in the White House. What made losing the job even worse was that it was a highly publicized event, with maybe half the people in the world knowing about my embarrassing defeat!

There were also some other problems that were especially troublesome for Rosalynn and me. Within a few days of the disappointing 1980 election, the trustee of my blind trust informed me that while I was president a lack of close personal management and a pervasive drought in the Southeast had cost us dearly. What had been our flourishing farm supply business was now more than a million dollars in debt.

We soon realized that there was no local market for a peanut buying point and farm supply business, and the community offered no real job opportunities for a family like ours. In order to pay what we owed, we faced the prospect of selling all our land, some of which had been in our family for 150 years, and perhaps taking out a mortgage on our only home. Even then, we had no assurance that we could raise enough cash to avoid an embarrassing bankruptcy.