Jimmy Carter opened his Jan. 20, 1977 presidential inaugural speech with these words:

For myself and for our Nation, I want to thank my predecessor for all he has done to heal our land.

Roll that sentence around for just a moment and think of the context in which the new president delivered it. He had just defeated President Gerald Ford, who was running for election, in a bitter, closely fought contest. Carter won 297 electoral votes to President Ford’s 241. It was a mean campaign, man.

But that gesture spoke about the decency of the two men who had just fought tooth-and-nail for the presidency.

President Carter died today at age 100. There will be more on this blog about the legacy that Carter leaves behind. One key element of this great man’s life is the gentleness of his spirit. He and Ford easily could have gone their separate ways after that bitter fight … but they didn’t.

They became the best of friends. They became allies working in tandem to promote ideas they shared. When Carter left the presidency four years later, in 1981, the two men worked together to help form the Carter Center in Atlanta. They became champions of the causes the Carter Center sought to elevate: the advancement of human rights and free elections.

Imagine that happening in today’s even more bitter political climate. I can’t imagine it. Today we are filled with outright hatred that cannot be bridged by a simple, declarative sentence such as the one Jimmy Carter delivered as he was about to assume the most powerful office in the world.

That is the mark of a champion.