A Voice Of Sanity

I’m quite sure I am like the majority of people who have been watching the news over the last couple of weeks and found myself saying, “Enough already with all this Michael Jackson mania.” It really is enough to make you nauseous. I mean, awarding tickets to a funeral service! And seeing people celebrating that they had won a ticket!!! How ironic is that!

And of course, these are not people who knew Michael Jackson. They are part of what could be called the ‘entertainment cult’ of our day. Whether they realize it or not, they are a large part of the insanity that led to the performers desperate life and death in the first place. The irony is running over!

But then, in the midst of all the madness, finally a lone voice of sanity. The Bible says a little child will lead them. Unexpectedly in the middle of the memorial service this week in Los Angeles, Michael Jackson’s little 11 year old daughter spoke briefly from her heart about the father she knew and loved and now misses so much. It wasn’t about show or performance or image or pretense. It was a heartfelt tribute to the value of a relationship. It was sincere and meaningful. It was real, unlike all of the glamour and glitz that has accompanied the life and death of the performer, and so many others in that train; the stuff of Hollywood and MTV.

But, I have to wonder if consumers were listening, really? It was as if for a brief moment, the curtain was drawn back on the fantasy exposing it for what it was, and a little bit of reality was allowed to shine in. The words of a song come to mind – “Only for a moment then a moment’s gone.” It was like that verse in the Bible in John chapter one that says, “The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.”

Today, it’s back to business as usual while our society continues to try and ignore the carnage as people continue to consume and be consumed by a culture that seems for the most part to have forgotten what life is even about, if it ever even really knew. I hope you know.