Michael Jackson: Let’s Celebrate the Mundane

Michael Jackson would be very pleased with the press coverage that he received afer his death.  The last several years  he had been covered in an often less than flattering way,  not just because of his child molestation charges, but his bizarre lifestyle.  Everything he did was so big, bold and usually ODD.  The media described a  series of things he did that could only be categorized as WIERD.  You could assume maybe that a portion of it was self-created just for the publicity involved, but I really doubt that is the fact in most of the reported eccentricities.  That causes me to reflect upon how he got to that point and what were the actual costs of his popculture success and mega-wealth.  It really does make my life as a mundane Southerner with  limited financial resources seem pretty  blessed.

Michael Jackson had an abnormal childhood.  He became a star so young.  I was just a little younger than he was and probably still have a 45 RPM of Rocking Robin somewhere.  As magical  and enviable as his lifestyle  seemed at the time to me, he really was robbed of all normal experiences of growing up. Our little group of friends all got together and discussed our Tiger Beat magazines which covered Michael Jackson,  Donny Osmond,and the rest.  I guess he never got to lie around in the floor with friends and look at magazines.  I suppose he never went to a Junior HIgh Dance, or a community swimming pool.  I wonder when he ever got to just hang out at the mall with friends, or take a mission trip with his church youth group.  He was  a bug under a microscope, and that couldn’t have been  too comfortable.  He was lucky enoiugh to have all those siblings; he was 7th in a series of 9, but eventually he was estranged  from most of them, it seemed. One would never know what transpired in the dark recesses of his formative years; but it is not a stretch to say something may have malfunctioned to cause such a bizarre adult life. 

He was somewhat of a Peter Pan figure who just didn’t want to grow up.  He attempted to fill his life with  the trappings of childhood fantasy at any cost. He had amusement parks and zoo animals.  I never saw a zoo until I was in my teens, but I could roam the neighborhood with my mixed-breed dog!  He never realy had those kind of experiences. 

 He seemed to be somehow fixated on youth, both his own and the youth of young boys whom he befriended.  It was unusual, at best.  You can only come to the conclusion that this was probably a result of his childhood in some way.  No one really knows the extent he went to to hold on to his youth, in appearance, vocal quality, lifestyle, etc…In later years, it seemed he had even retarded his physical maturation to have the physical frame of a 12 year old boy.  In his youth, he had begun to fill out and present the beginnings of a manly appearance.  and then, it seemed he began to regress.   He even had his nose restructured from the large appendage it was  to a small boy-like nose. 

As his wealth became larger than life, he became more and more estranged from everything and everyone.  He was isolated with only those he paid or bribed to share his company.  He had some relationships throughout his adult life which were kind of unorthodox.  He was very close to an older woman, Elizabeth Taylor, and various small boys.  It was unclear what relationship, if any, he had with most of his family members on a regular basis.   His life was like a beautiful, shiny apple that was rotten on the inside.  A regular, mundane life is the opposite.  The everyday can seem dull, or at times, even very difficult and hard.  But, the beauty lies underneath; the meaning quite often is many layers thick.  As you go deeper and deeper in my life, you see more and more silver linings to clouds.   I can count blessing after blessing underneath what appears to be a hardship or unpleasant memory.  It is my opinion that mundane mediocrity would have been a blessing to Michael Jackson.

He never experienced a normal marriage or a normal relationship with his children.  He covered their faces in public; he never got  to enjoy just pushing his child through the toy aisles of Wal-mart with a few dollars to spend from Grandma.  That sounds mundane, doesn’t it, but what if you couldnt do it?

Most of the extensive worldwide wealth  he achieved was lost in later years.  although, I am sure he still was wealthy.  But, the fruits of his life labor were depleted by legal battles and periods of waning popularity due to reputed repugnant activity.  Again, in deference to the deceased star, accusations are not FACTS.  Just to remain free to enjoy any lifestyle, cost him much of his empire. 

When a friend is with me, I know it isn’t for my money or fame!  Did he ever  really have that warm feeling of reciprocal friendship  and concern based on unconditional love?  I think I shall go spend the day today enjoying my mundane life.  It is still the best alternative!