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Joy

Maya Angelou reads slain peace activist's words on the transformative power of being alone

Peace activist Rachel Corrie died shortly after composing this email on a peace mission in Gaza.

via FakroonMedia/YouTube and Wikimedia Commons

Maya Angelou and peace activist Rachel Corrie.

The death of peace activist Rachel Corrie in 2003 has come to greater prominence over the past year as war rages between Hamas and Israel in Gaza. Twenty-one years ago, 23-year-old Corrie became the first American to be deemed a martyr in the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine, after being run over by an Israeli bulldozer.

Corrie had gone to Gaza to nonviolently protest the bulldozing of homes in an area Israel was clearing to prevent militants from having a place to hide. While protecting the family home of local pharmacist Samir Nasrallah from demolition by the Israel Defense Forces, she was run over by an armed Caterpillar D9R armored bulldozer.

Israel claimed that the bulldozer driver couldn’t see Corrie and that her death was unintentional. Corrie’s family later sued Israel for a symbolic $1 in damages, but a court rejected the suit. The court ruling was called “unacceptable” by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter.


On the third anniversary of Corrie’s death, in 2006, poet Maya Angelou read one of the final emails she wrote home after leaving Olympia, Washington for Gaza. Angelou is a famed American author, historian, and civil rights activist best known for her 1969 memoir of growing up in the South, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.”

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

Rachel’s email from January 2003.

We are all born and someday we’ll all die. Most likely to some degree alone. What if our aloneness isn’t a tragedy? What if our aloneness is what allows us to speak the truth without being afraid? What if our aloneness is what allows us to adventure – to experience the world as a dynamic presence – as a changeable, interactive thing?

If I lived in Bosnia or Rwanda or who knows where else, needless death wouldn’t be a distant symbol to me, it wouldn’t be a metaphor, it would be a reality.

And I have no right to this metaphor. But I use it to console myself. To give a fraction of meaning to something enormous and needless.

This realization. This realization that I will live my life in this world where I have privileges.

I can’t cool boiling waters in Russia. I can’t be Picasso. I can’t be Jesus. I can’t save the planet single-handedly.

I can wash dishes.


rachel corrie, gaza, maya angelouRachel Corrie stands up to a bulldozer before being killed.via Joe Carr/Wikimedia Commons

The key message in Corrie’s email is that there is power in being alone. It shows that sometimes when we aren’t preoccupied with the expectations of others, we give ourselves the space to grow to our fullest potential. It’s also a sad commentary that many of the people we love in our lives can hinder reaching our potential.

Corrie's words are a great reminder, in a world constantly distracted by screens, that we can only truly develop as people when we have a moment of solitude to explore our own thoughts and deeply held moral beliefs.

The piece is also an invitation to visualize what our lives can be if we follow our own paths without worrying about what others think. What truths would we speak and what adventures would we seek? What causes would we stand up for if we knew we wouldn’t be judged?

Corrie’s words also echo those of Maya Angelou, who believed that only through courage can we reach our potential. “One isn't necessarily born with courage, but one is born with potential. Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can't be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest,” she told USA Today in 1988.

Two years after Corrie’s death, her diaries and emails came to life in a play called “My Name is Rachel Corrie,” which has been staged worldwide, including in her hometown of Olympia, Washington, in 2017.

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Joy

Jimmy Carter has had many accomplishments, but nearly eradicating Guinea worm may be his greatest

It was a problem no one would touch.

via Wikimedia Commons

Jimmy Carter at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, California

In 2015, former president Jimmy Carter held a press conference where he laid out a goal for the rest of his time on Earth. "I would like to see Guinea worm completely eradicated before I die," Carter said. "I'd like for the last Guinea worm to die before I do. I think right now, we have 11 cases. We started out with 3.6 million cases."

Now that Carter, 98, is in hospice, spending his final days at home with his family, he probably won’t achieve his goal. But his herculean efforts at abolishing the deadly worm will be ranked among his most significant achievements as a politician and humanitarian over his extraordinary life.

When the Carter Center took the lead on an international campaign to eradicate the Guinea worm in 1986, there were 3.5 million cases in 21 countries across Africa and Asia. In 2022, only 13 cases were reported worldwide, a 99.99% decrease. If the Guinea worm disease is completely eradicated, it would only be the second eradicated human disease in history, following smallpox.

Carter and his wife celebrated a record low in cases last year.

“Rosalynn and I are pleased with this continued advance toward eradicating Guinea worm disease,” President Carter said. “Our partners, especially those in the affected villages, work with us daily to rid the world of this scourge. We are heartened that eradication can be achieved soon.”

After Carter left the White House in 1981, he went on a mission to fight “neglected” diseases in far-off places that most Americans would never have to worry about. He set his sights on conditions such as lymphatic filariasis, trachoma, river blindness, and schistosomiasis.

His former drug czar Peter Borne brought Guinea worm to his attention. Borne approached the Carter Center because no one else would touch the problem.

Guinea worm is also known as dracunculiasis which means “affliction with little dragons” in Latin. About a year after infection, the worms grow to three feet long, and the females prepare to give birth by making their way to a place right below the skin, causing painful blisters.

Eventually, the blisters burst and the mother burrows her way out, causing incredible pain.

To ease the pain, people often submerge the affected area in water, causing tens of thousands of baby worms to release in the water, where they will eventually find a host. Guinea worm can also cause fever, swelling and secondary infections like sepsis. Guinea worm causes significant hardships for families by rendering people unable to work or attend school.

“It’s an audacious and mind-boggling idea,” said Emily Staub, press liaison to health programs for the Carter Center, according to CNN. “I’m not just talking about just him. I’m talking about a whole bunch of people with the Carter Center that decided that they were going to eradicate a disease that has no vaccine, no immunity, no medication. It’s thousands of years old and has a one-year incubation. The odds are totally stacked against you. And the people that suffer from it speak thousands of different languages, and some have never had outsiders interact with them.”

jimmy carter, commonwealth club, carter center

Jimmy Carter at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, California

via Wikimedia Commons

But Carter persisted, creating countless partnerships with leaders around the globe to educate people about the worm, provide tools for clean water and prevent its spread in the animal population. "Guinea worm disease has no cure, no vaccination, basically the entire eradication effort is built on behavior change,” Kelly Callahan, a public health worker who partnered with the Carter Center, told NPR.

Thirty-seven years after the Carter Center started on the audacious task of eradicating Guinea worm, the WHO has certified that 200 countries are free of the disease, meaning they've had zero instances of transmission in three years. Only six countries have yet to be certified as disease-free.

Jimmy Carter set a nearly impossible task, but with dogged persistence and the ability to make partnerships with people worldwide, many of whom have had little contact with the outside, he has helped save millions upon millions of people from incredible suffering.

In the coming days, people will celebrate many of Carter’s accomplishments. Let’s be sure that no one forgets to mention a success he’d rank among his proudest.

“We were traveling in a big motorcade,” he said in 2017. “We were driving along, and elementary school children had a big sign that says, ‘Watch out, Guinea worm. Here comes Jimmy Carter.’ That was almost as good as a Nobel Prize for me.”

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Democracy

Obama's post-election lunch with the former presidents is what America should look like

Sebastian Copeland/Facebook

I've never been a fan of politics. I've always made conscientious decisions when I vote and engaged in discussions about challenges facing society, but the world of politics itself has always been a turn off. The partisan bickering, the power of expensive lobbyists to sway leaders who are supposed to work for the people, the mudslinging and inherently divisive nature of our two-party system—it's all just felt gross to me.

The office of the presidency, oddly enough, has not felt that way. Though a president brings their partisanship with them, of course, the office itself is non-partisan. The fact that it is a job held by a single individual has always humanized it for me, prompting me to feel some sympathy even for presidents I wasn't a fan of. "President of the United States" is an inarguably difficult position to be in, with impossibly hard choices to make. When unexpected crises land in your lap—the world's worst terrorist attack, a classroom full of first graders gunned down, the arrival of a global pandemic—it's your responsibility to handle it with care and wisdom. Every decision you make will be examined through the lens of history. Every statement you make becomes historical record. That's no small thing.

The weight of the office is unmatched in our country, and the status of the U.S. as a superpower makes it unlike any other position in the world. Everything U.S. presidents do and say matters, not just to Americans, but to people and governments all over the world.

Up until four years ago, I felt like every president understood that.

For some beautiful proof, consider this story of President-elect Obama's asking President Bush if he could meet the former presidents during his transition. A Facebook post from Sebastian Copeland shared an excerpt from Jean Edward Smith's biography of George W. Bush that reads:

"As part of the presidential transition, Barack Obama asked Bush if it would be possible for him to meet all the ex-presidents. Bush was happy to oblige, and organized a White House luncheon in the Oval Office on January 7. Bush and Obama were joined by Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and George H. W. Bush. The luncheon lasted over two hours, each former president ordered his lunch à la carte from the White House mess, and the tone was convivial and friendly. 'All the gentlemen here understand both the pressures and possibilities of this office,' said Obama before the meeting. 'For me to have the opportunity to get advice, good counsel and fellowship with these individuals is extraordinary, and I just want to thank the President for hosting us.'

Bush was equally effusive. 'We want you to succeed,' he replied. 'Whether we're Democrat or Republican we care deeply about this country. And to the extent we can we look forward to sharing our experiences with you. All of us who have served in this office understand that the office transcends the individual.'"

What a stunning contrast to where we are today.

Right now we have a President-elect not only being denied the most basic transition protocols, but being accused of crazy global conspiracies to to cheat in order to get elected. Nevermind that the pre-election polling from practically every respected polling firm had him ahead the whole time, making his win not remarkable in any way. Nevermind that the DHS cybersecurity head issued a statement saying, "There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised." Nevermind that that official was subsequently fired by the president for fact-checking him and that the president's legal team is next-level cuckoo bananapants. Nevermind that that legal team is currently 1–30 in post-election court cases, proving that the claims of widespread fraud are not based in reality.

It's as embarrassing as it is baffling. And on top of that, the dignity and decency we see in the Obama transition story is gone. The current occupant of the White House has shat upon the office of the presidency. It's going to have to be hosed down, disinfected, and saged in a hazmat suit before President-elect Biden takes the reins.

I exaggerate—but only slightly—because I'm frustrated that I can't do much else. It's a helpless feeling to watch the country you love having its foundations sledgehammered by a malignant narcissist who wouldn't recognize decency and dignity if they slapped him across the face, knowing that you can't personally do anything about it. While I'm hopeful for the future, I mourn for what we've lost these past four years and weep over the fact that tens of millions of Americans appear to not care that the office of the presidency has been befouled beyond recognition by this man's ongoing behavior.

There is plenty to criticize in every president's time in the Oval Office, and some certainly had moments which were neither decent not dignified. But when their terms were over, when it was time to pass the baton to the next person in line, they did it. They didn't try to undermine a free and fair election with criminal accusations of their opponent. They didn't lie constantly to the American people in a desperate attempt to cling to power. They recognized that the office was bigger than they were, that the safety and security of the country was more important than they were, that even though their party was passing power to the opposing team, the person elected deserved a chance to govern because the will of the people said so.

Politics is ugly, but not like this. This is far beyond partisan squabbles and typical mudslinging. For the first time in modern history, our peaceful transfer of power is being threatened by the delusions of an egomaniac who can't admit defeat. I just hope and pray that this nightmare ends soon so we can bring dignity and decency back to the White House, for all our sakes.

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Heroes

Even at age 94, Jimmy Carter's still an eco-warrior. Trump should pay attention.

Thanks to President Jimmy Carter, the small, rural town of Plains, Georgia, just reached quite the benchmark: It now gets 50% of its energy from solar power.

Sure, it's a very small town — "We have about 215 households, 700 or so people, in Plains," resident Jill Stuckey told the Associated Press — but it's still an impressive feat.

Photo by Saul Loeb - Pool/Getty Images.

Carter leased 10 acres of his own land in his hometown to build a solar farm, a project that was completed in February.

"In the solar industry, a lot of the folks that I know think of him as kind of the father of the solar industry," said Stuckey, who is a friend of Carter's. "And to have these panels in Plains today that will create more than half the energy that we utilize here in Plains is just really wonderful for us."

On top of his gift in Plains, last month the Carter family also provided 324 solar panels to the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library in Atlanta.

Carter's commitment to clean energy began a long, long time ago.

On June 20, 1979, Carter's administration installed 32 solar panels on the roof of the White House to harvest renewable energy at the president's residence, according to Scientific American.  

It wasn't just a symbolic move, either. As Carter declared in a speech that day:

"A generation from now, this solar heater can either be a curiosity, a museum piece, an example of a road not taken, or it can be just a small part of one of the greatest and most exciting adventures ever undertaken by the American people."

In a message to Congress the same day of his speech, Carter laid out his plans to overhaul America's energy systems. By the year 2020, he envisioned, at least 20% of the energy used in the U.S. would come from renewable sources.

Spoiler alert: We definitely didn't reach that goal. Carter's successor, Ronald Reagan, played a big role in sending us backward on environmental policy throughout the 1980s.

Carter's hopes of a sustainable 21st-century America took another hit in the 2016 election.

President Trump, as you may have noticed, isn't exactly known for hugging trees.

Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images.

So far, Trump has handed over the Environmental Protection Agency to Scott Pruitt, who's turned "the EPA into a supine lap dog" for the oil and gas industry, as David Horse eloquently put it in the L.A. Times. Trump, Bloomberg reported on July 13, also wants to invest in coal-fire power plants using money that's currently allocated to the United Nations to help countries hit hardest by climate change.

In June, to the dismay of millions around the world, Trump pledged to pull the U.S. out of the Paris climate agreement — a global effort to curb the effects of global warming. Now, America is one of just three countries (the others being Syria and Nicaragua) that aren't signed on to reach target emissions goals.

In terms of energy policy, it seems like Trump is a far better fit to lead in, say ... the early 1970s.

The good news is, America's energy future won't be decided by a single presidency.

One administration can push us forward or set us back in significant ways, to be sure. But it's on us to keep up the fight — regardless of who's in the Oval Office.

After all, you don't need to be a president to make a difference, as Carter would tell you.

Photo by Steve Schaefer/AFP/Getty Images.

"I think symbolically — like those panels on the White House [in 1979] — this little unit in Plains will be very beneficial," Carter told the AP. "It shows what a small town can do, what one farmer can do."

Watch President Carter's interview below:

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