Women's History Month intends to honor, inspire, educate, unite and promote women in the face of forces intent on subjugating and silencing them. It is about those who overcame overt and imbedded assumptions and prejudice to be their best selves. RGB said it well:
“I ask no favor for my sex. All I ask of our brethren is that they take their feet off our necks.”
DAY 6: DOLLY PARTON
(Image taken from her Instagram page)
I’m not much of a country music fan, but Dolly is far more than just a country music singer. Songwriter, actress, philanthropist, businesswoman, and literacy advocate, she has always looked past the politics and divisions of society to genuinely affect and benefit the world. Or as she puts it, "If you don't take the reins, it's going to stay the same."
Take the reins, she has. As a country music legend, she has composed over 3,000 songs and released 49 studio albums that have sold over 100 million copies worldwide. Twenty-five of her songs have reached #1 on the Billboard country music charts.
Just as admirable has been her efforts to improve literacy that has benefited thousands of youngsters. The Dollywood Foundation offers scholarships to high school students. Her Imagination Library provides free books to young children in the United States, while coordinating with agencies in Canada, Australia and Ireland to do the same. About one million children benefit monthly. She participates directly through her recorded “Goodnight With Dolly” bedtime stories. As she notes on her web page, these stories are, “Free of charge but not free from obligation as the message will be to pass on the love and keep hope alive because we are all Together, You and I.”
She has taken the reins on other issues as well. Her My People Fund funded $9 million for people devastated by the Great Smoky Mountains wildfires. She has held charity concerts for affected areas, and helped fund hospitals and other human services to the low income regions around her. Her support of LGBTQ rights and $1 million donation to aid in COVID vaccine research are two examples of her fundamental Christian recognition that we need to care for each other first.
Her traditions and mindset are the direct influence of growing up in a Tennessee one room cabin with eleven siblings. It was poor living, but love and music carried them through. Her song “Coat of Many Colors” speaks to those times, and how resourcefulness and community got them by. Her inability to read music hasn’t stopped her from learning to play nine instruments, from guitar and dulcimer to saxophone.
Dolly is one of the most decorated and honored female performers of all time. All of that has been earned through hard work and dedication to her craft. The humanitarian side of her is in her heart, her blood, and her upbringing.
In 2022, she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, a recognition that she couldn't let pass without poking fun at herself during her indoctrination ceremony. That led to releasing an album in 2023 with collaborations that included Paul McCartney, Elton John, Ringo Starr Sheryl Crow, Lizzo, and Miley Cyrus.
World leaders could learn a lot from her simple approach to helping her fellow human. "If you don't take the reins, it's going to stay the same."
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