Book Review: A Full Life: Reflections at Ninety

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Jimmy Carter has always been one of my heroes.  Not because of the work he did as President.  I was entirely too young to appreciate what he did while in office.  I was 11 when he was sworn in, and like most kids in 1976, I was immersed in the Bicentennial Celebration of our country.  I was engrossed by the Olympics, watching Bruce Jenner compete and win the Decathalon, the building of the space shuttle.

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I am most impressed with what the man has done since leaving office.  The impact that he has continued to have on the world around him for more than 30 years after being unelected from office some 30 years ago.

 In this book, President Carter takes a look back at the highlights of his life.  I remember many of the events, but he shares the backstory behind the political tales.  He also shares the stories from his time in the Navy and growing up.  He is only  a few years older than my mother.  Reading the tales of growing up during the depression is much like listening to my Mom talk about the depression.  They had slightly different experiences, but they were both barely scraping by.

I found the book fascinating.  Jimmy Carter really is one of the great philosophers of our time.  He thinks deeply about his actions, and weighs their impact upon the world around him before he makes a decision.

This book is a must read if you are interested in any of the forces that have helped to shape U.S. Foreign Policy over the last 50 years.  It is fascinating to see how our world has been impacted by policies and treaties that were signed during the Nixon-Carter-Reagan years.  It's even more humbling when you realize the long term impact many of these policies have had on our world today.

I'd like to finish this with a paragraph from the book.  President Carter is talking about the impact of economic embargoes on foreign countries, and how these very embargoes punish the people of the land - NOT the people who are in power - but the people like you and me, who are living their lives, raising their children, and trying to make ends meet.  In particular, he is talking about his trip to North Korea in 2011.  He reported back to Washington that one-third of all children in North Korea are malnourished and stunted in growth, with daily food intake numbering 700-1400 calories.  (As opposed to 2,000-2,500 in the U.S.)

"There is no excuse for oppression by a dictatorial regime, but it is likely that the degree of harsh treatment is dependent on the dissatisfaction of the citizens.  Hungry people are more inclined to demand relief from their plight, and more likely to be imprisoned or executed.  As in Cuba, the political elite in North Korea do not suffer, and the leader's all pervasive propaganda places the blame on the United States, not on themselves.

The primary objective of dictators is to stay in office, and we help them achieve this goal by punishing their already suffering subjects and letting the oppressors claim to be saviors."
(Carter, James, A Full Life, page 189.)

A troubling thought to keep in mind in a world that is filled with terrorism and nations that seem to have a problem with the United States.

President Carter has some fascinating insights on the world around us, and those insights are tempered by his age.  At this point in his life, he has nothing to gain by sugar coating the truth.  I believe we all have something to learn from his ruminations - about our past, and our future.