Written by Chidambara Avudaiappan. Graphic by Alice Stockli.
Dolly Parton left a legacy filled with love, compassion, wisdom, and resilience. She was a woman who stood by her beliefs, moved with a compassionate heart, and loved and helped every struggling soul.
Following her recent passing, here are some ways we can contribute to her ongoing legacy, both collectively and individually, and live by her example.
In her song “I Will Always Love You,” the message she conveys is to love loyally and say it out loud. She wrote it with the same spirit she carried through her 59 years of marriage. Remind the people in your life that you love them while you can.
Give the gift of reading to those who don’t have it. One of her many gifts to the world is her Imagination Library, which provides free books to children from birth to age five and is one of her best-known causes. Individually, you can donate books to your local library, women’s shelters, children’s hospitals, and orphanages.
Show up and speak out when disaster strikes. Dolly Parton has a history of helping communities after floods, fires, and other emergencies. The “My People Fund,” which she founded, supported multiple families affected by the Gatlinburg wildfires. Giving to your local relief efforts and coming together to help each other after an emergency can be done both individually and collectively.
She spoke up for the rights of the LGBTQ+ community and defended them by tying it to her faith in Christ. Stop judging the people around you for being different and start loving them for who they are, regardless of sex, race, or gender. You can extend the same acceptance to those around you.
Lastly, she built a career being unapologetically herself and didn’t bend the knee to anyone– refusing to shrink to fit the expectations of others. Find out who you are and do it on purpose. Don’t fall into the words and labels that people place on you; live by your truth by constantly discovering yourself and your love for your existence.
Legacy is not something that is left behind, but something that exists for others to carry on when we are gone. Born the fourth of 12 siblings in a cabin out the Great Smoky Mountains, Dolly Parton moved to Nashville, Tennessee, and changed the world around her. If her story tells us anything, it’s that you have everything to gain by being kind, loving, accepting, and, most importantly, yourself. Her legacy lives on within each of us, and we will always love her.
