I was gonna write some upbeat crapola about the fagulous time I had on Cape Cod and down in Gayhoboth... until I saw a brief snippet of Tammy Faye (Bakker) Mesner from her recent (last night?) appearance on Larry King Live.
She looks like hell. She should. She's been there and back. She's eaten up with cancer and it's literally only a matter of time (and not much of it at that, based on her looks). That picture, by the way, is not a recent one. I think it would be indecent to post a photo of her as she looks now. Tammy's personal defects include, I'm afraid, vanity. And I know she always wants to look her best.
I never thought I'd live to see the day when I'd say something like this, but I think this woman is a sterling example of what it means to actually lead a Good Christian Life. She has nothing but kindness and love and compassion and forgiveness in her soul, despite all the crap that got sent her way via a succession of scheming, conniving, backstabbing men, some of whom she married and some of whom she didn't (oh, Pat Robertson comes to mind, with all of his manipulations to take over the PTL empire when it - and she - fell on hard times).
Tammy Faye accepts - and did even before it was fashionable - LGBT people exactly the way we are AND lets us know that in her humble opinion God loves us just the way we are and there's no need to be fussin' over it.
I think the key to her success was and remains a stubborn insistence on maintaining a childlike innocence in the face of some pretty harsh realities combined with a childlike faith in the loving goodness of a Higher Power whom she chooses to call God.
Ordinarily I have nothing but contempt for and suspicion of televangelists and their ilk. But I will make one exception, for Tammy Faye.
I think I actually love this woman.
I pray that goodness and mercy will follow her all the days of her life.
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HOT FLASH! Check out this video by Max Blumenthal over at the Huffington Post blogsite. He nails chickenhawk Republican college dimwits to the barn doors, left and right.
Tomorrow: Fagulous Times
1 comment:
I was one of her loud critics when the PTL Club was in the news in the 1980’s with tales of swindling. While I still have problems with televangelists in general, I have a formed a deep respect for the way Tammy Faye has conducted herself in the past several years. She righted her own personal life after the downfall of a television empire that also ended Jim Bakker’s role on the big stage. When her cancer news became a public story several years ago I again started watching this lady who is sassy, fragile, bright, and funny, and found her story compelling to follow. James would often lean into the living room and ask why I was watching yet another news segment on Tammy Faye. But like so many others in the nation I was drawn to her ability to live life her way, and not care if others laughed or not. I think we all are a bit jealous that we cannot have that same care-free way of really living life that Tammy Faye possessed.
She liked her makeup applied her way, and if her accessories were a bit gaudy, so be it as it made her happy. She laughed at things others might not, and said things others might have kept to themselves. She was her own person, and lived life her way. And even if some do not like her, they must admit the way she lived was the only way to really do it. Complete and full on one’s own terms.
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