11/20/23
Good morning! It’s Monday, November 20th.
Future’s Teacher’s of America Day.
And what you have no way of knowing is that today we have a live studio audience, Carly, and when I said “I need to write the news,” she did the following impression:
“Good morning. It’s Monday, November blah blah blah blah. National blah blah blah day. And you know what?”
Do I… sound like that?
And now, the news.
Rosalynn Carter
We start with the news that broke Sunday afternoon – Rosealynn Carter, humanitarian, mental health advocate and former first lady, died in her Georgia home on Sunday. She was 96.
So… first of all. 96. That’s a success story.
If all we’re doing is trying to put as much good into the world as long we can, and make that “as long as we can” as long as we can… 96 years of a life spent first as the caregiver of her three youngest siblings after her dad died when she was 13, then in service of our country as the wife of a service member, then the first lady of Georgia when her husband was elected governor, before coming the nation’s First Lady when her husband was elected president in 1976 and sworn in in 1977.
In 1979, she became the second First Lady in history to testify before Congress when she sat before the Senate to improve the country’s understanding of mental health, as she testified on the President's Commission on Mental Health. Mental health became her top priority when she traveled around Georgia to stump for then-gubernatorial husband Jimmy Carter, and heard the stories of people in the state whose family members struggled with mental health.
Just in case you’re ever on Jeopardy – the first was, of course, Eleanor Roosevelt who went before Congress to testify in favor of building a home for the poor in Washington.
After leaving the White House, her call for servitude continued as she, and her husband, founded the Carter Center which, among other things, included work to eradicate Guinea worm disease in parts of Africa and Asia.
The Carter Center was formed in 1682. In 1985, there were more than 892,000 cases of Guinea worm disease worldwide. In. 2021 – that number was 15.
In 1999, President Clinton awarded both Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter with the Presidential Medal of Freedom saying they had done, "more good things for more people in more places than any other couple on the face of the Earth."
In 2019, the longest-married presidential couple celebrated their 75th wedding anniversary. Which… to me? Honestly? It’s a little braggy.
In a statement, Jimmy Carter, who also remains on hospice care, said this: "Rosalynn was my equal partner in everything I ever accomplished. She gave me wise guidance and encouragement when I needed it. As long as Rosalynn was in the world, I always knew somebody loved and supported me."
Which is very sweet. But Rosalynn Carter was, in addition to being a genuinely good person, an absolute boss. So let’s hear a quote from her (she had a lot, by the way. So it was tricky to pick only one but, tonally, here’s one that fits the moment and also this show):
“Do what you can to show you care about other people, and you will make our world a better place.”
Rosalynn Carter was 96.
What a success story.
Abbott Endorses Trump
-via Texas Tribune
Wow. What an amazing story. Who will follow that?
Texas’ Greg Abbott has endorsed former president Donald Trump as he tries to, once again, capture his father’s love—opps, I mean a second presidential term.
This is a story about two terrible people. I don’t have anything else to add, I just… you know, there are a lot of people in the world. Some people put genuine good into the world. Some people spend their whole lives trying to think about how they can make enrich the lives of others. Some people have seen the Good Place and understand that 1: there is a points system and 2: doing it just for the points negates the points. And so, instead, they are just genuinely good people.
And others… are Donald Trump and Greg Abbott.
Trump and Abbott – scientifically the worst.
And that’s it. That’s the news.
Honestly, I kind of wanted to just talk about Rosalynn Carter, but you know… balance.
Look here’s the deal – if it’s because you heard the story about Rosalynn Carter and thought: “what an inspiration” or you heard the Trump/Abbott thing and thought “wow, yikes,” either way… it’s Monday. It’s a short week. Go put more good than bad out into the world.
And because you don’t need the reminder, but you’ll take it anyway… I’m proud of you.