We lost not just a great performer but an exceptional human.
I don’t normally make my emails about current, surfing-the-news-of-the-moment type things.
But I’m making an exception, because I was extremely sad to hear that Dolly Parton had died.
She was brilliant, and I’m not even talking about the music. (Although I do love a lot of the music.)
Here are three ways I think Dolly Parton was exceptional, and three reasons her loss lands the way it does.
She played beautifully with others.
She did the most interesting collaborations … “9 to 5” with Pitbull (who?), and “Jolene” with Beyoncé (wow!).
She was a woman who knew how to partner and did so generously.
In fact, one of her most iconic songs, “I Will Always Love You,” is about her first great collaboration, and her realizing it was time to leave it. Even her goodbyes were generous.
She was committed to making the world better.
Dolly was all about giving more than she took.
As you may know, much of her philanthropic work was about getting books into the hands of kids and helping them fall in love with reading.
It should be obvious that this is something I believe in too. (I’m married to a woman who was a young-adult literature librarian, so trust that this one hits home.)
Putting books into people’s hands is about as generous as it gets.
She was the perfect combination of not taking herself too seriously and taking herself very seriously.
You never got the sense she didn’t understand her own value. She knew exactly what she was.
But she held it lightly, with play and delight, with a wink at the whole performance.
That’s aspirational for me.
I don’t have Dolly Parton’s public profile (mine is, let’s say, minor), but I want that same relationship with it.
I want to be amused and delighted by this character called MBS that I play on the internet and on stage and in the way I teach.
And I also want to take the work very seriously:
How do I become the best version of who I am?
How do I serve in a way that’s generous and appropriate and helpful?
How do I live into the best version of who I might be?
Not taking yourself too seriously and taking yourself very seriously. Both at once.
So I’m raising a glass to Dolly Parton (it should probably be moonshine, but it’s a little too early in the day for that), and ending this with a song.
