Presidents and Circumstances

On Thursday, we made our way to Luneburg--a quaint, little village 30 miles east of Hamburg for the inaugural dinner of the Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter Foundation. I have to admit that having just flown 12 hours from Atlanta a day and a half before I was not looking forward to this dinner.

You know the drill. "Yes, My name is X...nice to meet you...Uh, huh, this town is SO cute...Mmmm, we live in Berlin...just four months now...No, no, I don't work right now but I did before...you know, trying to learn the dag on language first."

Sigh, these things can be exhausting especially if you have no interest in trying to justify the fact that you no longer work and yet have no children. Usually around the time we get to part in the conversation when I answer "I don't work right now," I start to see people's eyes glaze over. Putting you in the insignificant category and moving on to an interesting person, they say.

But instead, this was a surprisingly moving dinner the purpose for which was to encourage German universities to teach service learning--a foreign concept here--to their students. For one, how can you not be excited to shake the hand of a former president whom you admire? "Oh my gosh, I'm touching a President!" I thought. He visibly brightened when we told him we were from Georgia and we felt a swell of pride that little, 'ol Plains, GA had produced such a remarkably humble and giving creature. There was nothing phony about this man who still lives in his childhood home and takes time to teach Sunday school whenever he finds himself in town on a Sunday.

More than that though, I was moved by the way that he related to the crowd by encouraging them to take responsibly for their communities. He shared that in Plains the fates of the residents vary drasticly based on the color of their skin. Everyone's poor, he said, but the white families are just a bit more affluent, the blacks just a bit less. What blacks have as a trade-off, he explained, is a strong faith in God that has been tested by trails and tribulations. Walk into a Black church in Plains and you'd never know that such circumstances existed in their lives because, he said, the Spirit is tangible and the people giving. In spite of the fact that they had few material goods, their spiritual cup overflows. The point, he said, was that every person regardless of financial standing had something to gain in giving. Like the three universities that were in attendance that night, schools that participated in service would get back what they gave in spades.

It's a cliche but I felt really proud to be there and to be from the same place as this great man. I felt like I was witnessing the beginning of a movement that would result in Germany taking the lead in Europe as service oriented country. I got me thinking that circumstances like these confirm that we are in Berlin for a reason. I'm not sure for what reason--it's still a mystery--but I know that I didn't travel across the pond to here President Carter speak for nothing.

Now, how the same country could elect this man only once and our current President twice is an even greater mystery....but I guess those answers will have to be left for another post.