Former U.S. President and Baptist, Jimmy Carter, is being remembered in today’s national holiday in North America, following his decision to receive end of life care at home.
In a message marking Presidents' Day, which is celebrated to honour all those who served as presidents of the United States, another former Democratic party premier Bill Clinton tweeted: “On this Presidents’ Day I’m thinking of President Jimmy Carter.”
On Saturday, the Carter Centre said the former President had decided to accept end of life care and "spend his remaining time at home with his family" instead of additional medical intervention.
Carter, 98, who has lived longer after leaving the White House than any former president in U.S. history, was a Democrat who served from January 1977 to January 1981. A member with his wife of Maranatha Baptist Church in the southwest Georgia town of Plains, Jimmy Carter taught Bible lessons since he was in his teens.
The former peanut farmer, Georgia governor and 39th president has been in ill-health for several years, suffering falls and skin cancer melanoma which spread to his liver and brain.
“I, obviously, prayed about it,” he said in 2019, about his cancer diagnosis. “I didn’t ask God to let me live, but I just asked God to give me a proper attitude toward death. And I found that I was absolutely and completely at ease with death. It didn’t really matter to me whether I died or lived.”
His rocky four years at the helm of the US were marred by economic woes at home and the Iran hostage crisis that ended just after he left office. But Carter also played a central role in brokering the Camp David accords that led to the landmark Egypt-Israeli peace treaty.
He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 in recognition of his "untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development."
President Biden tweeted Sunday that he and First Lady Jill Biden were praying for Carter and his 95-year-old wife Rosalynn.
“To our friends Jimmy and Rosalynn and to their family – Jill and I are with you in prayer and send you our love,” Biden said. “We admire you for the strength and humility you have shown in difficult times. May you continue your journey with grace and dignity, and God grant you peace.”
