Dolly Parton is dead and the world has lost one of its best. For long, when thinking of Mrs. Parton, the first thought to escape my lips has been: Did you know that she’d be a billionaire had she not given so much? And within the initial moments of collective grief, I had one repeating thought: How lucky we were to live in Dolly’s world?
I heard from one woman that, years ago, her friend undergoing cancer treatment wrote to Dolly with words not particularly out of the ordinary for a celebrity’s reception; admiration and gratitude. And to her surprise, Dolly herself wrote back. Promising to cover the costs of her cancer treatment. That was Dolly Parton.
In 1991, she sang the words, “Some are preachers, some are gay, some are addicts, drunks and strays, but not a one is turned away when it’s family.” In recent years, she criticized bigotry and rebuked anti-transgender laws — a stance seldom taken in the religiously-influenced world of country music.
Still, she made history as the first female artist to be recognized by Guinness for the longest span of Number one hits on the US Hot Country Songs chart. And while the heads on many artists have grown in size for much less, Mrs. Parton at-first declined her Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame nomination — respectfully, of course — expressing her concern about being put up against other Rock artists, which she herself was not.
Perhaps more powerful than the goodness she embodied in life will be the legacy she’s remembered for. People are complicated that way, after all; we don’t know what we have until it’s gone; we take things for granted until they’re no longer. And death has a funny way of fitting into that pattern.
Emotion stick to memory with more adhesive than any action ever has. We enjoy people whom we meet while we long for those we lose.
Indeed, Dolly’s life has come to an end — but her legacy touched the lives of millions; not only through music, art and donations, but through the envelopes she opened, letters she read and the version of humanity she always hoped for. The love she’s intimately offered strangers who never felt understood; people who had been cast aside for their sexuality, gender identity, skin color and ability.
That is her legacy. And what a legacy to leave behind. She’s gone now — in fact, mere days before being taken from this world, she described her silent battle with cancer as health issues she’d ignored while caring for her husband before his death last year.
If anything, perhaps in death, her memory will remain in our hearts like a rhinestone-stained mark asking that we extend a bit more kindness today than we did yesterday.
Dolly Parton will be forever missed. But her work, her heart, her kindness and generosity will live on in all the millions of people who lived to tell the tales of the blonde wig that grew an inch each time it inspired a smile.
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