Michael Jackson: Cutting Through the Hype

Okay, I admit it.
I watched Michael Jackson’s Memorial Service on Tuesday.
I wasn’t originally going to do that because it was just getting to be too much. I mean, we love "celebrity" in this country and because we do, we can’t get enough of knowing every intimate detail there is. And so it was with Michael Jackson’s death. Now, four days after his service, I'm starting the get that creapy feeling I did when Anna Nicole Smith’s died. The media learned something very important back then: the public can't get enough. In fact, the bigger the celebrity, the bigger the audience and people won’t be happy until we know every intimate details there is.
In the end, I suspect we will wind up feeling just a little bit guilty. Someone will write a book, someone will make a lot of money telling their "exclusive" story on TV, and we will quench our insatiable desire to know all the “dirt”. People will blame the media for going too far, without ever acknowledging their own role in creating the environment for that to happen to begin with.
Sometimes, though, you just have to cut through the hype.
In watching Tuesday’s coverage, I was struck by two things. First, the commentator’s repeated use of the word “exploit”. “How will his survivors exploit his legacy?” they kept asking. There’s just something terrible sounding about that, but in truth that’s what it is. Who will gain by this man’s death and how? He has an estate to leave behind and it must be maximized to provide support for those who are left behind in the wake of his death: his children. Second, when you cut through all of the hype, you find a memorial service that was befitting a man who, in the final analysis, tried to make the world a better place by his being here. He made people happy, he tried to use the money he made to benefit those who were less fortunate, he knew how his world worked and used it to his advantage. He overcame a lot of adversity to do all of that. I learned Tuesday that a lot of what I thought about Michael Jackson was just wrong and whether we acknowledge it or not, Michael did positively affect the world in which he lived. In the end, the positives far outweigh the negatives.
The service started with sadness at the parting of this man and thanking God for his being here to begin with. It ended in a celebration of his life. But, nothing touched me like the images of his daughter, Paris, tearfully saying how much she loved and missed her father. In the final moments of this memorial, we were reminded that in its purist form, that Michael love his family and they loved him and that love was no different from that we hope our families have for us. It prompted me to look back on all the opportunities I had in my own life to make memories with my own children but didn’t because I was too busy worrying about the future and making a living. I’m staring at the man in the mirror and have just begun the second half of my life. I learned some thing from the first half that I don’t intend to repeat the second time around. I am moved to make a difference in my world … one hour – one day – one opportunity at a time.
Thanks, Michael.