By Tom Watkins

Former President Jimmy Carter has died after a remarkable 100 years of life.

He is the longest-lived ex-commander in chief. His life is not measured in years or even his ascent to the presidency, but by the kindness and human decency he shared here at home and around the globe.

The humble president from Plains, Georgia, made a point that two dates — his birth and death — were not important. It was the dash between the two dates that truly mattered.

Jimmy Carter was a model servant leader, spending his “dash” doing what we all should aspire to do — being kind, giving and loving and finding solutions to man’s misery. He lived a life of addition and multiplication, steering clear of division and subtraction. If more people intentionally emulated his life the world would tilt on its axis from all the good and joy being spread.

The country and world need more people of President Carter’s moral conviction, intellect, service and common decency.

Carter helped normalize relations with the People’s Republic of China. The U.S. and China relationship remains the most important bilateral relationship in the world today. Going forward, all global issues will intersect at the corner of Beijing and Washington, D.C. How our leaders solve these problems will impact the people of China, the U.S. and all of humanity. President Carter looked to build bridges, not great walls, as he stood strong on our national interests.

President Carter served others his entire life. He and his wife, Rosalynn, who proceed him in death, have been honored for their work with Habitat for Humanity, sawing board and building homes for people in need.

Linda Ellis immortalized the concept of how to spend your time on earth in The Dash Poem.

Jimmy Carter used the dash, the time between his birth and death, to add value, make a difference and contribute to mankind.

While both were Baptists, Jimmy and Rosalynn lived out John Wesley’s Methodist belief better than anyone I have had the privilege to meet:

“Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.”

I imagine as President Carter transitioned to heaven, he was offered a chauffeur driven limousine to take him directly to the pearly gates, but decided to walk among the other heavenly bound while offering to carry their burden. A servant leader to the very end.

Our country is still working to be a more perfect union. President Carter, you and your bride have left a legacy to which all future leaders of our nation should aspire.

In celebration of the life of a good man, I recount how Carter’s pastor, Rev. Tony Lowden, would leave him: “I love you. I’ll see you again. There’s nothing you can do about it.”

President Carter explained to National Geographic his operating ethos this way:

“There’s no way to separate peace from freedom, from democracy, from human rights, from environmental quality and from the alleviation of suffering.

“I hope to find a way to transform the despair that people feel into hope and the expectation of a better life.”

President Carter accomplished this. The world remembers him today and will remember him forever as a truly good and decent man who used his dash to the fullest.

Thank you, to the humble man from Plains, Georgia. Our nation owes you a debt of gratitude and needs the resurrection of the values you both espoused and lived.

Godspeed, Mr. President.

– Tom Watkins served as deputy chief of staff to former Michigan Gov. Jim Blanchard and led the department of mental health from 1983 to 1990 and the department of education from 2001 to 2005.

— Published first by the Detroit News. Edited for style.