We lost a great lady last week. Dolly Parton belonged to the world, but we East Tennesseans considered her our own. Her Smoky Mountains were mine as well. And like her mountains, her music and life are for the ages.
I had begun a different essay, but how could I not pay homage to Dolly?
The Psalmist sang, “Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty if our strength endures (Psalm 90:10). Dolly Parton lived long and large, touching the hearts of so many. When my daughter heard of Dolly’s passing, she said, “Dolly is eternal,” and I agree.
I have read that younglings – especially boys – consider themselves immortal and bulletproof. I did some foolish things when I was younger and survived through the grace of God. Actually, when I was a kid, I never thought about death, but now it has become real with the loss of friends and loved ones and special people. I did not personally know Dolly, but like everyone else, I mourn her passing.
All living things on this earth die. And the end of Dolly Parton’s earthly life causes us to think of our own mortality. We Christians hold to the belief that our essence, our mind, our soul transcends this earthly existence. We trust in the promises Jesus made, as told in the Gospels.
There is no earthly proof of this; it is a statement of faith and trust. The Greek word pistis can contextually mean either faith or trust. Sometimes I stand on faith and sometimes on trust. I have faith and trust in Jesus more than the so-called wisdom and machinations of man. This faith and trust is a better way to live and there is the “hope that does not disappoint” (Romans 5:5).
Perhaps the most famous soliloquy in literature occurs in Shakespeare’s play Hamlet. The prince of Denmark muses existentially, “To be, or not to be, that is the question.” As Hamlet considers the injustices and struggles of life, he considers escaping into death’s eternal sleep. But he doesn’t give up and decides to “take up arms against a sea of troubles and end them.” That’s where I am these days with my electronic pen, while holding to the promises of Jesus.
Dolly said, “I don’t do politics; I’m an entertainer.” Her life was one of witness through her music, philanthropy and kindness. The apostle Paul wrote that all of us have differing gifts. I love Dolly’s music and admire her accomplishments and Christian witness. She will always be special.
Ideology can be defined as a set of principles. To be principled or un-principled, that is the Hamlet-like question. Dolly obviously had bedrock principles of faith, fidelity and generosity. By contrast, the self-serving ideological huckster Bernie Sanders preaches socialism/communism, yet has become a millionaire with at least three homes on a congressional salary.
Back in the days when Saturday Night Live was funny, I loved the segments they did called Celebrity Jeopardy. The character playing Sean Connery taught me the word mountebank, the term he used for Will Ferrell portraying Alex Trebek. A mountebank is an unscrupulous, often flamboyant charlatan.
My castigation of the avuncular communist could be said of most of the Washington Democrats and all of the DSA Jacobin radicals like Hassan Piker. These charlatans preach the “virtues” of socialism to “useful idiots,” but are actually wolves in sheep’s clothing. They are unprincipled ideologues who are antisemites and promote abolishing the presidency, the Supreme Court and the Constitution. They champion open borders to import mobs of illegals who will become the equivalent of slaves as in the pre-Civil War South.
The radicals promise Medicare for all (Obamacare on steroids). I paid into the Medicare system for 50 years before I became eligible. And I still pay monthly premiums. Like freedom, Medicare is not free. And if illegals and those who have not contributed are thrust to the head of the line, the system will collapse. But perhaps this is the fulfillment of the Cloward-Piven strategy to overload the system and promote its collapse.
Even the Social Security system is going broke. The so-called “third rail of politics” is something that is so politically charged that it cannot be addressed. The term third rail derives from the electrified third rail of a subway system. Our leaders’ profligate spending and failure to address reality are leading us to collapse.
The traditional elegy is a poem or song expressing sorrow. However, an elegy can also be used more broadly, as I do so in this homage (public tribute) to Dolly.
But I take this opportunity and forum to also pen an elegy to “The Death of Common Sense in America” (Philip K. Howard’s book title). It is my hope that America will choose common sense instead of communism in the upcoming elections. I am sad that so many have lost their common sense perspective, which is largely driven by perverse ideology and sick hatred of President Trump.
Dolly is free of the concerns of this world. It is for us the living to use common sense and the timeless principles of faith, family and fidelity to resist the evil that threatens us.
In celebration of Dolly’s life and my hope, it seems fitting to close with lines from “The Prophet” by Kahlil Gibran:
“In the depth of your hopes and desires lies your silent knowledge of the beyond. Trust the dreams, for in them is hidden the gates to eternity. For what is it to die, but to stand naked in the wind and melt into the sun? And what is it to cease breathing, but to free the breath from its restless tides that it may rise and expand, and seek God unencumbered? Only when you drink from the river of silence, shall you indeed sing. And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb. And when the Earth shall claim your limbs, then you shall truly dance.”
Bon voyage, Dolly.
