Jimmy Carter’s Act Of Grace On A Delta Flight

I ran the story below on Jimmy Carter flying Delta Air Lines on June 12, 2017. In honor of the former US President, I am re-running it this morning. I’ll have more to say about the former POTUS in a future post.

I do my best to keep this blog non-partisan and believe me, I have strong opinions that are hard to keep silent sometimes. But I will say this: I have a certain admiration for all men who have been part of the exclusive club of U.S. Presidents. It’s why I intend to visit every Presidential Library. It’s also why I love this story on Jimmy Carter flying Delta.

Whatever your political viewpoint on the Carter years in the White House or his work in the 3.5 decades after, there is no denying the man is gracious and sincere.

Last night passengers boarded a Delta flight from Washington National to Atlanta. Just as the door was about to close, one more passenger appeared: the former president. When a flight delay was announced, he made his way down the aisle and extended a handshake to every passenger onboard.

The ex-President joked that it wasn’t his fault the plane was late.

Delta was happy to heap praises on the former president–

Delta is always proud to fly former President Carter. His taking the time to shake hands with fellow customers is a magnanimous gesture consistent with his decades of public and philanthropic service.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, however, suggests an ulterior motive for proactively shaking the hands of every passenger prior to takeoff: avoiding a crowd around him during the flight.

That’s actually a genius move.

CONCLUSION

This story resonates because we have been inundated with so many horrible onboard stories lately…on United, Delta, and American. This was just a nice break from the bad news, a small gesture of kindness that should cause us all to smile and try to likewise show kindness to others.