Not quite a native Ripley Countian - she attended only her last year of high school in Doniphan though she taught in the R-1 system for 32 years - Teresa (Pearson) Lee delights in surprising readers and herself with anecdotal observations of life in general. Maybe you can blame her St.Louis roots for a quirky humor and some slightly-askewed opinions, but never doubt she writes from the heart.

To Make Life Good Again

Posted Wednesday, June 10, 2020, at 3:02 PM

As a gifted songwriter who pens words with universal appeal, Dolly Parton does more than compose lines that rhyme, manipulate syllables and create the perfect rhythm in her songs. And that is all before she writes notes that emit tunes that tug at our hearts. The end of May she released a new song composed during the isolation of the COVID-19 crisis titled “When Life is Good Again” and I cried when I listened. I wondered why, beyond the fact that I’m a sentimental sap who can tear up at the sight of a tree toppled in a storm or of a roadkill possum.

While listening my thoughts were not focused on the last two months of world-wide pandemic. Instead they swirled around the images I’ve seen since the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25, sights sickeningly similar to those on screens in 2014 following the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson.

“When life is good again” is repeated often in Dolly’s lyrics, followed by “I’ll be a better friend...bigger person...I’ll try to make amends...I’ll open up my heart...”

But we can’t wait till life is good again. That means too many different things to each of us. If Dolly were writing those lyrics with focus on our current terrifying troubles she might have said “’TO MAKE LIFE GOOD AGAIN...”I’ll be more thoughtful than I’ve been...TO MAKE LIFE GOOD AGAIN...”I’ll open up my heart and let the whole world in...I’ll try to make amends”...TO MAKE LIFE GOOD AGAIN...”We need to change our ways and right our wrongs”...TO MAKE LIFE GOOD AGAIN...”Let’s open up our hearts and let the love shine in...And ask God’s forgiveness.”

These lines are near the end. “We’ll make it through this long dark night, Darkness fades when faced with light...” It doesn’t seem to matter to the light which darkness it shines on - diseases that halt global activity or acts of injustice and hate - if we let love and light in, positive change can happen.

At the end of the official video Dolly leaves this message: “Be safe, be respectable, wear your masks, lead with love.” Erase the ‘wear your masks’ and she could have written the song for these riotous, chaotic times. Here in Ripley County we seem shielded. Thankfully COVID-19 cases are still few. We don’t experience the plights urban areas do. So are we excused? I don’t think so. Hate and injustice can be found here, too, as well as those with needs we want to ignore when solutions aren’t easy. We’re all humans. “Lead with love.”