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Lessons from the late, great Mr Michael Jackson
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Despite his many flaws, the world will certainly miss Mr Michael Jackson, the undisputed King of Pop music who for almost four decades excited the imaginations of millions of fans across the globe with his electrifying performances and best-selling album of all time, Thriller (1982).
Yes, his passing on Thursday sent shock waves across a globe that had loved, castigated, analysed and misanalysed the web of complexity that was this extremely talented and troubled young man.
Had he lived, millions of fans would have experienced his 50-date 'This is it' comeback tour in London.
That tour would have afforded Mr Jackson an ideal opportunity to repackage the unsavoury scandal-ridden image of himself that had, in recent years, cast a distracting pall over the message of his earlier music and other achievements.
It would have provided fresh insights into the forces that drove him, and musical history would have been informed with another remarkable chapter.
As things have turned out, the world will have to settle for a different type of lesson, which is to be found in the many nostalgic musings his death must inspire.
And given the story that is now emerging concerning the status of his health, maybe this lesson is most appropriate, at this time, for a world that has become too accustomed to the luxury of sugar-coating the reality of its challenges.
For if ever the world needed a reality check, it is now when the ravages of economic recession and its consequent challenges are battering us.
And if ever there was an ideal opportunity for such a check to reach and impact a universal audience, it would have to be now with the passing of Mr Jackson.
Now that Mr Jackson is gone, the good, the bad and the ugly of the tale that started with his birth in Gary, Indiana on August 29, 1958, is going to command a great deal - if not the virtually undivided attention of the world - for a good while.
And even though we know that aspects of this fascinating story will be sensationalised with much of the ruthlessness and untruthfulness for which American media are notorious, there will be much to consider, and, if we care to be honest and objective, learn.
Take the parenting issue.
Whether we choose to accept or reject the horror stories of emotional and physical abuse that marred Mr Jackson's childhood and have been fingered in greater part for his oftentimes incomprehensible behaviour, the bigger point relating to the dangers of forcing our children out of the innocence of youth prematurely, is inescapable.
No matter what version of his startling metamorphis from a nappy-haired, dark-skinned boy with undeniable Negroid features to a straight-haired Caucasian man we choose to believe, the issues of self-acceptance are nothing if not stark.
The 2003 allegations against Mr Jackson of child sexual abuse at his Neverland ranch, and that outrageous image of him dangling his baby son from the balcony of a hotel in Berlin in November of 2002 bring home the importance of ensuring that our behaviour is kept above reproach and within appropriate paradigms.
His reported debt and ignominious fall are blunt reminders that no matter how gifted and rich we are, imprudent decisions will ultimately lead to financial embarrassment and ruin.
On the positive side, we can take inspiration from the good that Mr Jackson did in terms of raising millions for several charitable causes.
The impact that his music made on the world is also a gift of an ideal towards which artistes everywhere would do well to strive towards.
For Mr Jackson was the consummate performer who transcended the barriers of time, race and culture with his inimitable compositions and creative dance moves.
His story, marred as it was by the all-too-human flaws which - far from being unique - are actually the unreported norm, is an epic that belongs in the classical genre.
May his soul rest in peace.
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