A Trio of Loss & Remembering September 11
In a recent span of nine days, our world lost three iconic people whose influence will be long felt. The three could not be more different in many ways and yet were alike in staying true to themselves and what they believed mattered most in life for all their lives.
The word “integrity” comes from the word “integer” which means whole and complete. It describes those of whom it might be said they practice what they preach. “What you see is what you get” is another way it is described. Or from the field of technology, “having internal consistency.” All congruent with the three people our world lost.
Dolly Parton died at age 80 on August 25. While never a country music fan myself, upon learning since her death of all the good she inspired in her life, I wish I had paid more attention. I am grateful for the many glimpses into her life, her talent, and her heart from those who have long adored her. And I appreciate the ways in which she is a bridge between people who have been too-long divided.
I think of her Imagination Library Project, inspired by her father’s inability to read and write. In 1995, she began giving books free of charge to children from birth to age five living in her own community. Today, her program spans five countries and partners with others to provide millions of free books each month to children around the world.
I read about a mother who said that her third grader cried himself to sleep the night after he learned about Dolly Parton’s death. The mother wondered why it impacted her son so deeply, imagining it may have had to do with Dolly having cancer as does she. Instead, her son told her, “She didn’t even know I existed and she still sent me books. I’m just so sad.”
The United Nations’ International Literacy Day celebrated its 60th anniversary this week. The strength that Dolly’s project brings to their goal of “promoting literacy as a fundamental human right and a powerful force for transforming lives, economies and societies" is remarkable. To date, Dolly has given more than 332 million books to more than three million registered children. And this is but one of multiple ongoing philanthropic pursuits Dolly has founded and funded.
As our nation comes to the 25th anniversary of September 11, 2001, the most brutal, unprovoked attack on American soil, I think of Dolly’s response. She did what Dolly did best,she wrote songs to encourage and unite us. Two of them, “Hello God” and “Raven Dove,” can be found on her 2002 Album, “Halos & Horns.” In “Hello God,” Dolly, backed by a gospel choir sings: “We fight and kill each other in Your name defending You. Do You love some more than others? We’re so lost and confused.” And in “Raven Dove” she sings against a dissonant chorus: “There will come a day when sorrow fades away, And anguish and heartache shall ease, No mothers cryin', no soldiers dyin', And turmoil and misery shall cease. When the raven of darkness turns into a white dove of peace.”
Gloria Steinem, who died at age 92 on September 2 devoted six decades of her life to advocating for women’s rights and equality. She attributed her mother's nervous breakdown before Gloria was born and her mother’s treatment in mental institutions as key to her interest in social injustices.
Born on March 25, 1934, in Toledo, Ohio, Gloria’s father was a travelling salesman. Together with her mother and sister, who was nine years her senior, they lived in a caravan going town to town selling antiques. Her father abandoned the family when Gloria was ten, leaving her to care for her mother. As a result, Gloria did not go to school full-time until she was 12 years old.
“I learned I could survive almost anything,” Gloria writes in her memoir, “including a sad mother who was called the Crazy Lady of the neighborhood. We are all one human family,”she continued, “and we are responsible for one another.”
In the late 1950s, Gloria went to India on a research scholarship and helped village women organize non-violent protests against government policies, inspiring her interest in grassroots activism. By 1968 she was a columnist for “New York Magazine,” focusing on progressive social issues and women's rights. In 1972, she launched “Ms. Magazine,” the first all-female founded and operated periodical, doing serious journalism.
In 2024, Steinem told the BBC that she hoped her legacy "might help individual people... to become more the unique, valuable, loved and lovable person that they want to be."
While Gloria was not unlike Dolly in her passion for the welfare of others, Dolly was not unlike Gloria in her belief in the abilities of women. Both women worked until the end of their lives. Gloria’s latest memoir, “An Unexpected Life,” is scheduled for release on September 22, 2026.
When Gloria learned of 9/11, her response was to do what she did best, to join with a group of activists, experts, faith leaders, and concerned citizens to propose justice, not revenge. In a concise five-paragraph statement, “Justice not Vengeance,” the group expressed deep compassion for the victims, as well as shock, anger and grief. They warned against a military response that would likely escalate violence and urged finding and bringing to justice under the rule of law those responsible. She advocated for peace.
Wendell Berry, a farmer, poet, novelist and environmentalist who authored more than fifty books and won numerous awards for his writings and advocacy for small family farms, the environment, and interdependent communities, is the third of the trio of recent people who died leaving what feels to me like a void in the universe.
As a Kentucky Baptist, Wendell was beloved at Southern Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, from whence I graduated, and where we were often assigned readings from his beautiful, prophetic writings. Like Dolly and Gloria, Wendell stayed true to himself and to his roots, when at age 30 he decided along with his wife and young children to move from New York City where he was a professor at New York University back to rural Port Royal, Kentucky, where his ancestors had lived since 1803. It was where he died on August 31 at age 92. He said that “Returning to his home as a place to write for the rest of his life was a way to ensure, to himself, that he would always be bound by the truth.”
He was a conservationist whose writings launched the movement for sustainable farming and advocated for us all “to conserve what is most human in our landscapes and in ourselves.” When Wendell learned of the horrors of September 11, 2001, he wrote a powerful essay enumerating the root causes of what had happened and what we might do next.“
Thoughts in the Presence of Fear,” https://orionmagazine.org/article/thoughts-in-the-presence-of-fear/ was written in late September 2001, and has since been reprinted in 73 countries and seven languages.
I pray we all will find ways to raise a toast to these remarkable Americans and to remember 9/11, as did they, with integrity and hope.
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