Man In The Mirror

The world mourns Michael Jackson; I’m amazed at how Michael captivated us. He created the most popular music worldwide for decades and may be the greatest entertainer the world will ever know.

Michael accomplished through music what the great empires in history could not; he united the world. Not with sword, gun, or smart bomb, but with music. Music is an amorphous art, not easily described, with meaning dependent on person, culture, and time, yet he used this art to conquer the world. This tormented child was able to meld dance and song into something people from every corner of our planet embraced. This may blasphemy to some, but he was bigger than religion! He reached beyond, touching the hearts of adults and children everywhere. No use of mythology, no fear of hell, he didn’t scare us into believing in his music, we just did.

But there was some darkness around him as well. His childhood is tainted with allegations of abusive from father as well as other mentors. The media constantly hounded the impressionable teenager about his sexuality. He responded by manipulating the media and controlling our perceptions of him by leaking bizarre rumors about himself to the press. He spent years abusing myriads of controlled substances in an attempt to self medicate undiagnosed mental anguish. Obvious self contempt drove him to bleach his skin and scar his face until unrecognizable. And we are all familiar with the sexual abuse allegations that followed him in recent years.

Even though he became the star attraction of a bizarre media circus, we still loved him. He created music that transcended culture, nation, continents; his music united our world. Sadly, the man was a creation of our world, shaped by the many forces within modern society. A society where antidepressants are the most common prescribed medications while our society scorns mental illness. Pain and malaise are the most common complaints we make to our doctors who respond by giving narcotics away like candy. Those of us living outside the mainstream medicate ourselves with alcohol, tobacco, and illegal drugs trying to cope with past abuse, broken childhoods, abandonment, or grief. Our media glorifies unworthy personalities who undergo plastic surgery on a regular basis. Hypocritical politicians persecute homosexuality yet privately have same sex lovers. Internationally, governments espouse democracy and freedom but oppress their citizens and ally with tyrannies. Our world is confusing and duplicitous. There exists a dissonance between what we aspire for and the reality in which we live.

And we acted the same toward Michael. We found hope in his music. And as we judged and scorned his public antics, secretly we could relate to his obvious, yet unspoken torment. The world's greatest entertainer encapsulated all the hope we strive for and the demons we wish to exorcise; he was society's Man In The Mirror.