The King of Pop

Everyone knows that Michael Jackson died yesterday. Today, the news is all about his life. This is a real indication of just how famous Michael Jackson became in his lifetime. I hear no one debating that. It is obvious. The debate that is raging, however, is whether he was famous and great, or famous and weird. This is quite understandable when you consider the significant accomplishments that rightfully earned him the title ‘The King of Pop’ on the one hand, and then on the other, the antics that earned him the title ‘Jacko the Waco’.

I’m not going to comment on the details of either really. I think they speak for themselves on both counts. He was a very gifted man and a very desperate one. I would like, however, to say that Michael Jackson becomes another striking example of the biblical truth that fame, money and power (success as defined by the world) do not bring true happiness. He joins a long list of people. Names like Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley readily come to mind.

I turn fifty this year and have watched, albeit from a distance, Michael’s public life and career for the past 35 years or so. Yes, I remember the cartoon. Everyone is being asked about how they feel and how they would describe Michael and his life. The word that best describes how I feel, and what I think about his life, is the little word ‘sad’.

His great skill as a performer cannot be contested. In that sense he was truly great. And, he is also to be remembered as someone who did a lot to help a lot of people. He seemed to really care and he had a lot of people who cared very much about him. But, with everything that he had and was, he was obviously a very sad man who lived a very sad, and often desperate, type of life. Now he is gone and the profound emptiness that was observable in this man is almost haunting.

You can have it all, but if you don’t have the personal validation that brings a sense of wholeness and completeness to your spirit, then nothing else will ultimately matter. I only wish that the King of Pop could have met the King of Kings and found what he searched unsuccessfully for his entire life.

Sad