(This photo provided by the Obama campaign shows Obama in 1979 with his grandmother Madelyn Lee Payne Dunham. Taken from the CNN web site 11.3.08)
CNN is reporting that Barack Obama’s grandmother died today, just hours before the election. According to CNN, his family has asked that in lieu of flowers, admirers make donations to any charity that looks for a cure for cancer. I respect a family’s right to dictate how folks should honor their loved one at the time of their passing, but may I be so bold as to make a suggestion?
Honor the woman’s life, not her death. Ask people to make contributions to the causes she believed in and that she spent her life fighting for. Ask them to donate to charities that promote tolerance, women’s equality in the workplace or other causes that reflect her struggles and her victories in life. Heck, ask them to donate to her grandson’s campaign so that he can implement the values that she helped instill in him.
For some reason, when a loved one dies, we choose to focus on the thing that killed them. I don’t mean to suggest that we shouldn’t look for a cure for cancer or Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease, but I do think that it is by living in their footsteps and following their lead that we truly honor the people we love.
For all the folks who are mourning and aren’t sure how to find a great organization working in the causes your loved one cared about (if they hadn’t identified charities they supported personally), please feel free to email me at sharon.l.schneider@gmail.com and I’d be happy to help you.
