Death. Be not proud, America.

Death comes in threes. A lot. It adds up, you know. This year, it seems personalities and politicians have been dropping faster than network viewership. And whether it’s an alleged pederast-cum-pop-king or the-liberal-conscience-of-our-country-that-in-good-conscience-abandoned-a-crime-scene, many of us genuflect at the altar of our televisions to mourn… the passing of the coke-addicted-tv-pitchman or the quarterback-caught-in-a-love-triangle-victim-of-a-murder-suicide. (Oops, that’s four.) And while fans and friends arrange vigils and memorials befitting royalty for these popular if imperfect celebrities, others die daily without fanfare despite deserving our acclaim, respect and remembrance. (Learn from history: Consider that Mother Teresa‘s demise was buried by the coverage of Princess Di‘s unfortunate off-roading. Some even speculated that the former succumbed to grief over the loss of the latter. I don’t know, I think Mother Teresa’s good deeds deserved better.)

Last week, Crystal Lee Sutton died of brain cancer. Few noticed, few cared. Months earlier, Farrah Fawcett “lost her battle with anal cancer” and a nation wept, glued to her eleventh hour NBC special. Now, I’m not knocking the model-turned-actress. She seemed like an affable, if somewhat daffy, individual. However, her contribution to the world was feathered ‘dos and postered walls. Crystal Lee Sutton accomplished something. She fought. She made a difference. She changed lives.

Of course, you don’t know Crystal Lee Sutton by her given name. If you know her at all, it’s by her nom-de-cinema: NORMA RAE. Sally Field won an Oscar® for her portrayal of the reluctant rabble-rouser. When Ms. Field took her trophy, she famously assured herself: “You like me. Right now, you like me.” I wonder how often, if ever, Ms. Sutton enjoyed such a moment of validation? When did Jack Nicholson applaud the unlikely labor-organizer? When did water-cooler conversation revolve around the feisty Southerner’s improbable decision to stand on her work table, with a hastily-scribbled cardboard sign emblazoned: UNION! Ms. Sutton’s courageous action eventually led to the unionization of the JP Stevens textile plant in North Carolina, improving the lives not only of her co-workers who initially shut off their machines in solidarity, but of all those who followed at the factory. Significantly, despite JP Stevens’ passionate resistance to their employees’ organizing, the company prospered, remaining in the Fortune 500 for many, many years.

Nevertheless, since then, unions have been marginalized and/or demonized, dependent on who’s spinning the spin. However, has there ever been a time when unions were more needed than now? How is that big businesses get government bailouts while government employees get indefinite furloughs? How is it that CEOs take home nine-figure salaries while prematurely-retired staffers lose their homes and their pension plans? Why do we tacitly, yet continually, condone a system that rewards corporate ineptitude while it punishes worker loyalty?

We have failed to live up to Crystal Lee Sutton’s standards. And, we have failed to give Crystal Lee Sutton her due. Worse, we’ve also stood by as she suffered one final indignity. Crystal Lee Sutton might be alive today if it weren’t for our profit-driven, results-disoriented health care system. Ms. Sutton was denied potentially life-saving medication by her insurance company for two months as they deliberated the efficacy —or was it the cost? — of such treatment. (Odd, isn’t it? Sounds like her insurers had convened their own de facto “death panel,” yes?) Eventually, they approved the treatment, but far too late to combat the cancer. No one will ever know if Ms. Sutton’s life would have been saved, but I bet bean-counters can tell you precisely how many dollars were saved while they played passive god.

Once you’re done paying your respects to the dancer-turned-actor or the filmmaker-who-made-teen-angst-funny, ask yourself this: Where is today’s Crystal Lee Sutton? And what should her contemporary cardboard admonishment to America’s workers be?

UNION?  PUBLIC OPTION?  REST IN PEACE?

“A photo of Sally Fields in the movie “Norma Rae” hangs in Crystal Lee Sutton’s home in Burlington, N.C. (By Joseph Rodriguez — Associated Press)”