What does it say about a culture whose media reports round the clock coverage of an entertainer who grew before our eyes from an adorable, talented child into a tragic caricature of a tortured artist? For one thing, it says that culture needs a serious wake-up call about what it values as successful.
We are alive during a time in society that is the spiritual equivalent of the TV show “Supermarket Sweep.” This was the old game show where contestants would have a limited time to run through a store stuffing purchases into their shopping carts, while menaced by monsters that stalked the isles. The winner would be the contestant whose items would add up to the higher monetary value. This premise may make for a fun 30-minute contest, but it isn’t a great model for a successful life.
While parents may tell their children that “happiness comes from within” or “it’s the thought that counts” when it comes to gift giving, the messages from our culture are mixed.
We all like creature comforts, but there is a big difference between the pursuit of pleasure and the pursuit of happiness. Happiness cannot be found in the ability to string together a never-ending list of pleasurable moments – it truly has to come from within.
The life and death of Michael Jackson speaks to this. Here was a talented man who was rich enough to indulge all his whims and surround himself with innumerable objects of distraction, however bizarre or obscure. Yet, all one has to do is look at his self-inflicted disfigured face to know that he was a man who self-esteem was seriously damaged.
His penchant for plastic surgery speaks volumes about the pain he undoubtedly felt being in his own skin. Of course, his money did buy him many willing accomplices to go along with a distorted plan that left his face looking like a puppet that was caught in a house fire.
