Guardian Angel -- Audrey Hepburn Inspired Millions With Her Volunteer Work For Diverse Causes

Audrey Hepburn's death was particularly ironic, considering her years of service for so many causes, long before Hollywood altruism was trendy.

Miss Hepburn would have liked President Clinton's inaugural speech, only I'm sure she would have agreed that the 32 years since President Kennedy asked the same of us was too long to wait.

When Miss Hepburn was a child in the Netherlands, she and her family escaped and hid from the Nazis, endured the executions of two family members, and survived by eating tulip bulbs. She made a vow at that time that if she were to make it out alive, she would never complain again.

These years also were the root of the work Miss Hepburn performed later in life, when in 1988 she gave up her acting career to become the goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), her most publicized service role.

Before our new president was even born, Miss Hepburn was a dedicated champion of the unheard, starting when she participated in clandestine amateur shows to raise money for the Dutch underground movement.

Children, animals and anybody who needed assistance found a guardian angel in Audrey Hepburn.

Her tireless efforts for organizations as diverse as the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and Casita Maria, New York's oldest settlement community serving its Latino community, will last for generations.

Now that the call has been sounded for Americans to band

together and work for the common good, wouldn't it be a fitting tribute to Miss Hepburn and others who quietly make the world a better place if people could give some time to the many organizations that so desperately need help?

If you can't spare the time, give a little money each month to a worthy cause.

Of course, so many people in these difficult economic times have neither the time nor the money to give.

If this is you, there is still something you can do: change your attitude, be less judgmental, and try to get a different point of view once in a while.

Get to know people of different races, ethnic backgrounds and sexual orientations. When you see a homeless person sitting on the street, don't just blindly turn your eyes away; realize that you don't know the circumstances that forced him or her out into the cold. Visit an elderly relative who is alone. Or adopt a pet. There's always something to be done.

For me, no one will ever emulate the grace and beauty of Audrey Hepburn, a woman who was so modest she didn't even consider herself very attractive, much less a good actress.

Instead of spending her later years writing tell-all books and appearing on bad television shows, she chose a less glamorous but much more important path in volunteerism and inspired millions of people like myself with her grace and selflessness. - Lisa Lindstrom, Seattle