Michael Jackson, American Tragedy

 

Michael Jackson died yesterday.  Some people cried.  Others were in shock...he was only 50 years' old and about to make one, final comeback.  (*Is it ever "final" for someone who has become addicted to fame? Think Brent Fabre, Lance Armstrong... I guess he had multiple millions of dollars of debt and needed to do something about it.) A lot of people laughed, considering him a freak.  I am sad.  I have looked at Michael Jackson's life from afar for the past 15 years or so, shocked by the child abuse accusations and the grotesque effects of dozens of unnecessary plastic surgeries. (*Who are the doctors, any way, who lack the personal and professional integrity to tell someone like Jackson "no"? Should we look at those physicians and say, "You are more freakish than Michael!")

 

I read an article that a friend posted on Facebook this morning.  I will quote it here.  (*Below the quote find a link for the entire article.)

"In many ways his tragedy was to mistake attention for love. I will never forget what he said when we sat down to record 40 hours of conversations where he would finally reveal himself for a book I authored. He turned to me and said these haunting words: "I am going to say something I have never said before and this is the truth. I have no reason to lie to you and God knows I am telling the truth. I think all my success and fame, and I have wanted it, I have wanted it because I wanted to be loved. That's all. That's the real truth. I wanted people to love me, truly love me, because I never really felt loved. I said I know I have an ability. Maybe if I sharpened my craft, maybe people will love me more. I just wanted to be loved because I think it is very important to be loved and to tell people that you love them and to look in their eyes and say it." One cannot read these words without feeling a tremendous sadness for a soul that was so surrounded with hero-worship but remained so utterly alone. Because Michael substituted attention for love he got fans who loved what he did but he never had true compatriots who loved him for who he was. Perhaps this is why, when so many of his inner circle saw him destroying his life with prescription medication - something he used to treat phantom physical illnesses which were really afflictions of the soul - they allowed him to deteriorate and disintegrate rather than throwing the poison in the garbage.

Michael's death is not just a personal tragedy, it is an American tragedy. Michael's story was the stuff of the American dream - a poor black boy who grows up in Gary, Indiana, and ends up a billionaire entertainer. But we now know how the story ends. Money is not a currency by which we can purchase self-esteem and being recognized on the streets will never replace being loved unconditionally by family and true friends."  *To read the entire article, please go to:

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1245924935526&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull

May we learn to love the people around us in such a way that even the ones who have everything, and yet are lacking the most important things - like a true friend, a relationship with God who never leaves us nor forsakes us, a community of people committed to one another...just to name a few -  find healing, wholeness, and a desire to give that away to others who are hurting.

Comments

[ian]

wow, thanks for posting that randy, that article expresses exactly how i've been feeling lately, which if you think about it, is even sadder, cuz it could be understandable in the crazy world mj lived in, but you'd think the "authenticity meter" we are supposedly surrounded in VCFP would never let one mistake "accomplishment/skill appreciation" for love, but even in this awesome community, that's exactly what I've been feeling alot lately.

[randy]

yeah, even christians can fall into giving and/or receiving conditional love. hopefully we are receiving more and more of God's love so that we have more and more of that to give away.