Eulogy

By Shirley MacLaine

Bella Abzug was one of the few people I know who were always right about character. Her politics came out of that unerring evaluation. Her ethical standards made her a human being far ahead of her time. She saw activism as the most important solution to improving the world, which she believed was suffering a nervous breakdown. "People should reach inside themselves and claim their right to equality," she would say. Of course, she was a feminist, but more than that, she was a humanist who fought against the pain, isolation and oppression that she felt women had experienced.

The courage she displayed in acting on her convictions sometimes stunned people, because she "saw" things long before others opened their eyes. Her impatience was always a harbinger of what would come to pass.

I will miss her comfortable fun in gazing at a sunset, in color-matching a wardrobe, in having her beside me in times that were difficult, in dishing a new movie and in discussing which politicians were telling the truth. Truth was what she was most open-minded about. My friend the truth liver, truth teller and truth maker is gone. But not really. We often discussed life after life. I'm sure I'll be hearing from her. And I'll smile through my tears because she won't find it surprising.

--Shirley MacLaine