Fare thee well, MJ

There used to be a hugely popular programme titled ‘Life style of the Rich and the Famous’ telecast in the ‘80s by Star TV. Sitting in our cramped and badly kept drawing rooms, we watched people like Carlo Ponti, Sophia Loren, Paul Newman besides stinking rich sports persons, singers and fashion designers parading before us in such unbelievable ambience and opulence. Our jaws remained dropped even hours after the programme was over. With a dreamy look, we trudged to our beds and cleaned them off all the debris like unwashed clothes, books, periodicals, toys and the other paraphernalia of all ages. We then hit the bed hoping that if ever there was another birth, we would be one of those rich and famous who lived a life that we wouldn’t even dare to dream.

Slowly, ever so slowly, we came to understand that beneath the thin veneer of all that opulent life style, there was total misery, unbelievable pain and a personal life of fear, anxiety, betrayal, shame and frustration. All these took their toll on these people eventually. From Marilyn Munro to Michael Jackson, the list is endless and ever growing. They stand testimony to the great truth that material wealth cannot give us a sublime peace of mind which is the essential ingredient of a life of joy and contentment.

I became a huge fan of MJ when I first saw the video of his ‘Beat it’. Was it his music or his dance moves that catapulted him to dizzy heights where no other singer can ever reach? He was extremely innovative in his dance steps that were electrifying. His moon walking steps made him a million times more popular than Neil Armstrong, the man who really walked on the moon. Whenever I saw Prabhu Deva and other mundane artists of our own movie world, I could always realise how great MJ was. MJ could just put out his hand and pluck the stars of the heavens one by one till his hands ached. In fact, it looked as though God exhausted the full range of all His blessings on a single individual called MJ.

MJ is dead now. The whole media is agog with rumours about the causes of his death. It was obvious that the legend had to rely on extremely potent medications to sustain himself. His mental and emotional pain was far more intense than the physical ones which he would have gladly endured. After all for a man who had such a horrid childhood, physical pain would never have been too much to endure. He needed medication to free himself from the haunting memories of his past. The more we read about him, the more we ache for him. His great success and his unbelievable opulence were finally the cause of his undoing. He sought a life style that he hoped would help him free himself from the haunting memories of his childhood of poverty and distress. His father believed in bringing up his children in a style that, he never probably expected, would kill his children.

It may be quite sometime before the real reason for MJ’s death would be laid bare before us. But right now, we all know that he was an unbelievably depressed man. He was terrified of what might happen to him. The memories of his past never let him sleep even for a night. The thoughts of his father made him puke as he revealed in an interview with Oprah Winfrey. He apparently had everything in life except the greatest protection of love. Death has mercifully relieved him of all his pain, both physical and emotional. I only hope those horrible memories do not haunt him even after his death. For a man who kept us enthralled with his music and dance, his soul deserves to rest in peace.

It is time that the parents of children who act unscrupulously with their children take a lesson from the life of MJ. We shall spend less time in providing them with material wealth and more in giving them our love, unconditionally and without any bounds. Life without love is just plain void. And that void sucked MJ into its bottomless pit of misery and pain. If my prayers have any power, I would pray to God to let MJ’s soul rest in peace.

 

Dear Viji
Thanks a lot for your amazingly quick response!
Most of us believe that it is more necessary to teach our children to remain highly competitive in this rat race called life. I don't say it is not necessary but if along with all those lessons, if a child is not taught to love unconditionally all the fellow humans, they will be a total waste.
We are just shifting into top gear on the highway of loveless selfishness. It is high time we pause for a while and admire the legacy that God has given us to rule!
Sri

 

Dear Chithra
Quality time is a weak palliative for the feeling of guilt that the parents feel when they are not in a position to give quantity time! I fully agree with you on this. Take for example my case. My dad was always in a world of his own but my mum gave as much time as possible during our formative years. Even when my brother was strenously preparing for his IAS exams burning midnight oil, my mum sat with him reading magazines or some books that she found interesting. Later on my brother would say that she gave him enormous emotional support by sitting with him that made him come out with flying colours in IAS.

There is no such thing as quality and quantity when it comes to bringing up children. Initially it has got to be all quantity and as the child grows up into independence, that is the time he would require quality time. MJ's woeful existence in life was entirely caused by the incidents of his childhood. This is a great pointer. The eminent Tamil writer Sivasankari would often say that the children became drug addicts only because their parents were pursuing a course of life that gave them very little time to mould their children.
Sri

 

Dear Padmini
MJ's life has proved beyond doubt that money and fame can never heal a bruised soul. When I saw again his interview by Oprah Winfrey yesterday, I felt a lump in my throat when he said that he felt like vomiting whenever he thought of his father. What a pitiable childhood that he might have had that he could never recover from the shocks of his early life even when he was being chased by fame and wealth. He found it as difficult as running away from himself.

It was a great pity that he wreaked vengeance on everyone that played with his early life by destroying himself by his queer acts. He has in turn left his children in great debts and I only hope that history doesn't repeat itself in their case. May God bless them and let them live in peace that eluded their father
Sri

 

Dear Sabitha
Welcome to my Senile Ramblings!
I agree with you entirely on the great talents this short lived genius possessed. He has touched such frontiers of music and dancing that will remain like the ever receding horizon for all other artists for generations to come. His own pain was also his motivator as he was under pressure to prove his great worth to others around him.

I have not stopped listening to his songs for the last two days and I find it hard to judge what made him an icon, his music or his dancing. Some of the TV channels were showing the great effect that MJ had on our choreographers. We also saw how cheap the imitations were!

I find it a great mystery why God choses someone for some special blessings but also delivers them such blows from which they find hard to recover. Otherwise. how could we explain the long list of people who ended their lives while riding the crest of success!
sri