5 Reasons Dolly Parton Should Have Been Time's Person of the Year

Time Announced Their Person of the Year & Many People Aren’t Happy

After Elon Musk was named Time Magazine’s Person of the Year — a decision that left everyone outside of crypto bros and Tesla fanatics scratching their heads in confusion — attention soon turned to all of the far more deserving people who could have received such an honor. Suggestions ranged from Stacey Abrams to the Capitol police officers who pushed back the rioters to Britney Spears to all the service industry employees who quit after being taken advantage of in a pandemic.

But one name popped up more frequently than others — Dolly Parton.

And you know what? We can get behind that. Dolly may not want a ton of recognition, but those tend to be the people who deserve it the most. And while just about anyone can rattle off far more than five reasons why Dolly could have taken up the mantle instead of Musk, five is a good place to start.

1. She’s part of the reason we have a COVID-19 vaccine.

Dolly donated $1 million to Vanderbilt University Medical Center last year, which helped the group work alongside Moderna to develop one of our most widely used vaccines against the coronavirus. We all saw the fruits of that labor this year, as vaccinations became available to more and more people and helped start the lengthy process of pulling us out of this nightmare.

2. She’s still helping children invest in reading.

Dolly’s Imagination Library is somewhat legendary. For over 25 years, the program has regularly provided free books to families with young children, encouraging reading and helping families who may not have access to these materials otherwise. More than that, Dolly still takes an active role in the organization, routinely promoting it and a love of reading on her social media, because she knows how important it is for children to both learn and dream.

3. She turned down the Medal of Freedom twice.

The Trump administration reportedly offered Dolly this high honor twice, but she turned them down both times due to the pandemic and her husband’s health. Although the singer doesn’t want to be seen as playing politics, turning down an honor that would have involved Trump is reason enough for praise in some circles. But it also reinforces an ongoing air of humility Dolly has maintained throughout her career, as she admitted she’s not sure she deserves the highest civilian honor the U.S. has — because Dolly is a philanthropist for the sake of doing good, rather than for the sake of recognition.

4. She raised $700,000 for flood victims.

After fatal flooding swept through Tennessee this fall, Dolly’s organizations raised $700,000 to help the victims. She credits the decision to help to Loretta Lynn, who lives in the county that was impacted and who Dolly says immediately reached out to help after the Sevier County wildfires 2016 — a catastrophe Dolly raised money for as well.

“This was just one small way I could help Loretta’s people for all they did to help my people,” she said.

5. She got vaccinated in the best way possible.

Sure, vaccines are on this list twice, but we are still in a pandemic after all. And Dolly didn’t stop with helping to fund the vaccine — she put her image on the line, knowing full well that there are too many people in the United States who are against vaccines, and made a video in which she got the Moderna shot to reassure nervous folks that it’s safe. Better yet — she did so while singing a modified version of “Jolene,” substituting “vaccine” for the titular name and “begging of you please don’t hesitate.”