Culture Week - Part 6: The Sad Story of Michael Jackson

I graduated from high school in 1972. I remember full well the big hit the Jackson Five were at that time. They were one of Motown’s biggest draws in that era. I remember the cute youngest brother in the group Michael. I remember watching him sing and dance. It was evident at a very early age that he was an incredible talent. I have memories of his first solo hits. He and Donny Osmond were the rage for what seemed like a long time for a young male who was into Alice Cooper, Black Sabbath, Uriah Heep, The Beatles and the like.

Michael was, for a while, the hottest thing in music. For a long stretch during the 1980s Michael Jackson owned pop music. Everything he touched seemingly turned to gold or platinum. No matter what anyone will ever say about him they can never doubt his incredible talent.

With that as a backdrop, it is truly sad to watch talk shows and television news today as they mock and mimic the man who is but a shell of the talent he used to be. There are as many opinions on the Michael Jackson scenario as there are keys on a keyboard, but everyone absolutely has to admit that something took place in the man in the 1980s. Something happened to him. It may have been the result of something in his distant past, but something did indeed change. It led to a marriage, a disfiguring of his appearance, a strange selection of friends, and many other issues of which I am not even aware.

I am not going to even attempt to cast a judgment in the legal battle in which Michael now finds himself embroiled. As I have stated, I am not an expert in the legal or medical field, so to comment now would be futile and foolish.

A month or so back I was flipping TV channels at night for some background noise to my work at the computer when I came across a documentary on VH1 regarding Michael Jackson. I cannot recall everything that was stated, but some things still ring very true to my own experiences.

It appears that Michael lived a very conflicted childhood torn in the extremes of his mother’s strong Jehovah’s Witness religion and his father’s less than moral example. Most folks on this interview seemed to strongly believe that Michael Jackson was at worst molested and at best sexually abused as a young teen. (It actually depends upon your definition of abuse.)

Please do not misread my words here. I really am not casting blame anywhere, I am just commenting. There are a few things that really leap out at me on whatever level this is true. As is the case in each of these commentaries, I am attempting to put out my thoughts and hopefully at least attempt an eternal and spiritual perspective on these issues. Here are a few of my thoughts.

1. We cannot escape our environment. The home in which we were raised, the people with whom we interacted, the places we lived, are all a part of who we are. They help make up our personality, our behaviors and our attitudes. We can, and should, process those issues and seek to address them. The issues from our past will come out. We can address them and choose where they will come out or we cannot address them and they will choose where to come out, and believe me, we will not like it when they choose. But we have to remember it is a part of our makeup.

2. Children are vulnerable beings. The way we speak to them, treat them, love them, hold them, support them all affect who they become as adults and how they affect the world around them.

3. God loves Michael Jackson. I can tell you that is the truth. God loves this confused, weak yet powerful, conflicted man. God loves him as much as he loves me and as much as he loves you.