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As I watched President Jimmy Carter’s funeral at the National Cathedral in Washington, a memory of the evening of Sept. 10, 2001, popped into my head. It was of a reception at a downtown hotel for Millard Fuller and the early arrivers for the weeklong celebration of Habitat for Humanity International’s 25th anniversary.
Fuller was the founder and leader of Habitat, and just why he chose to bring this global organization’s milestone gathering to our city escapes me now. I was the mayor of Indianapolis and was thrilled we were hosting all the events surrounding the anniversary.
I was thrilled, in large part, because I was going to get to meet one of my heroes in person. President Jimmy Carter was to be the keynote speaker at the Saturday night gala marking the end of Habitat’s celebration. I cast my first vote ever at the age of 17 in the Indiana primary in 1976 for Jimmy Carter. Yes, 17. If you were going to be 18 by the general election, you could vote at 17 in the primary election.
The reception that Monday evening was my last memory of American innocence. The next day dawned sunny and clear, as we all know, whether we saw it then or have only seen the pictures and the videos since. Along with almost 3,000 innocent people, the idea of—as John Lennon put it—“a brotherhood of man” died on Sept. 11, 2001. At least the idea died in the heads and hearts of many people in our country. But it never died in Jimmy Carter’s heart.
It was a blessing to our city and state that the global leadership of Habitat for Humanity was here the week of 9/11. The Habitat staff worked with my team and that of Gov. Frank O’Bannon to turn the week dedicated to celebration into a week dedicated to seeking understanding, to demonstrating resilience in the face of hateful terrorism, to highlighting the values of Habitat for Humanity that drove many tens of thousands of people to volunteer to build houses for those in need across the world and to mourning those lost. It felt as if collaborating with Habitat in responding to the heinous attacks brought out the best in all of us and steered us away from the entirely understandable impulse to lash out in destructive ways, mimicking the very hate demonstrated by the terrorists.
One thing I was sure of, though, in the immediate aftermath of 9/11; I was not going to meet Jimmy Carter. Not that I thought much about it that Tuesday and Wednesday, but when I did, I understood that air travel in the United States was shut down, and the former president was not going to drive to our city. But I underestimated the power of Millard Fuller, and President Carter’s deep commitment to Habitat for Humanity. Somehow, a private plane was allowed to fly him here.
So, I met this humanitarian giant on that Saturday. We walked alone together, I recall, from his hotel to Conseco (now Gainbridge) Fieldhouse. He spoke eloquently on the stage, both in memorializing those lost in the attacks and in lauding the work of Habitat. Fuller had opened the doors of the fieldhouse to anyone in Indianapolis who wanted to attend. This allowed a planned anniversary celebration for 3,000 or 4,000 global Habitat leaders to turn into a gathering of 18,000 people in our city who needed a place to be together and to grieve the unspeakable tragedy of 9/11.
That was a different time. Much has changed, and certainly not all for the worse. But today, I cannot help wondering if the God in whom Jimmy Carter believed so strongly did not keep him alive and active so long precisely to regularly poke our consciences. To remind us that it was possible to live a life of honest service. To be humble, even when holding an exalted position. To put others ahead of oneself. To forgive.•
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Peterson is a former mayor of Indianapolis and former CEO of Christel House International.
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