In my lifetime there have been two public figures who made their public lives about kindness and uniting people: Fred Rogers and Dolly Parton. Both gone now, with no viable candidates to replace them.
Mr. Rogers made his life about service, kindness, and attention. When he hosted guests on his show (generally chosen because of their marginal status) the thing that is most impressive is the intensity of attention he bestows on everyone. The kind of attention many people can go their whole lives without receiving. Attention like this is so rare. Those who receive it from him seem to glow. They become the best version of themselves as he watches.
When he received a lifetime achievement award and had the chance to give a speech to the best and brightest of show business, he did two things with the opportunity. First was the gentlest reminder that being in entertainment, just like ministry, which he was ordained into as well, should be a life of service. The calling is to improve the lives of others. The second thing he did was remind everyone they had helpers (”look for the helpers,” as he taught us on his show). He asks them to take a moment of quiet to think about the people who helped them succeed. “I’ll keep the time.” In seconds, the camera pans across eyes filled with tears across the room. At an event where the most famous people in the world gather to congratulate themselves on their success, a mild-mannered puppeteer found a way to utterly reorient the values in the room in just a few moments. You could imagine a similar scene if Jesus showed up in the War Room.
Though her life was certainly more glamorous than Mr. Rogers’s, Dolly Parton demonstrated the same ability to pay attention to those around here. There are so many stories of her kindness to studio crews, cameramen, and particularly musicians. She always had time to speak with everyone and see them where they were. Like Mr. Rogers, she always remembered her helpers. When Porter Wagner fell on hard times later in life, Dolly purchased the rights to his back catalogue and gave them to him as a gift. He had taken advantage of her in a vulnerable moment in her early career, but she chose to remember that he had gotten her started in show business and taught her to succeed.
Her secretive philanthropic work has slowly gotten out over the years. It’s notable for the local focus. She helped nearly anyone, but in particular she helped the people where she was from. She is probably the most locally rooted of any celebrity, always keeping a connection where she grew up and investing heavily in the area. Paying attention to its needs and challenges was part of this. So many people in her position insulate themselves from real life and the people around them, but she was always of the people.
And whatever else she might have done, she never forgot that songs are what bring people together. In a clip I saw this week, she was asked about the song in a time capsule at Dollywood to be opened in 2045. She said why she had done it (”It’s a very good song!”) and how there were included instructions for how to play a CD in case everyone had forgotten by then. “How do you think people will react when they hear the song in 2045?” the host asks. “Well, I hope you like my song.”