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Michael Jackson: The King of Pop Meets The Prince of Peace
I am a PK. Don’t feel bad if you don’t know what that means. Most people are probably not familiar with this term unless they are a PK themselves. PK stands for “preacher’s kid.” My father was a Presbyterian minister in various small churches in the California Bay Area. Growing up, I spent many Sunday mornings sitting in a church pew watching the sunlight falling in candy-colored prisms through stained glass windows. During these church services I sat quietly listening, praying and singing. The singing was the best! I always felt the holy-spirit meter taking hold of me during those hymns. The holy-spirit meter is when you feel tingly all over and the warm feeling ascends your spine, dances across your neck and ends with the touch of an imaginary magic wand that taps gently on the very tip-top of your head. To me, this was the most real indicator of the presence of God.
Presbyterians are a pretty tolerant, open and easy-going bunch. As a small child, church was fun for me. We learned bible stories and ate graham crackers and attended picnics. Guilt and sin didn’t enter into the picture. I learned that church and religion was all about community, love and openness. However, I’m afraid that I never really felt nor did I completely understand the figure of Jesus. In the Christian religion Jesus is the Son of God, sent to earth to redeem mankind. As a child I was taught that I should invite Jesus into my heart. I tried very sincerely, several times, to ask him in. I just didn’t know how he would fit and what he was supposed to do once he got in there. Jesus’ father supposedly gave him to the world so that we could have everlasting life. I never really understood that. Somehow the logic of someone dying for my sins was completely lost on me. Still, I could access my spirituality best through music and song. It was through hymns that I experienced the holy-spirit meter and through music that I was best able to get in touch with my personal faith.
As an adult I attended church only sporadically and had nearly all but forgotten the holy-spirit meter. It was upon the death of Michael Jackson that I experienced something like a religious reawakening. Michael was the undisputed King of Pop, a musical and theatrical genius. But more than that, the man had a message. Through the life, music and message of Michael Jackson, I have been able to relate to and understand the life and message of Jesus. It is strange (many may say ‘unbelievable’) and yet it feels very true and tangible to me. I’m sure most people won’t like what I have to say. And, if you are a devout Christian with a strict upbringing you will like it even less - you may go so far as to think I am blaspheming. But, there is a lesson to be learned, and a moral to be found, and an amazing life to appreciate.
Michael Jackson had always been a part of my life. As early as grade school I was singing along to the song ABC with The Jackson Five. In high school, we danced to Thriller, Billy Jean and Beat it and watched endless hours of Michael Jackson videos on the new music channel, MTV. The melodic rhythms and catchy dance tunes of Jackson’s songs painted the backdrop of my youth. While he was an integral part of the fabric of my life, I was not what you would call a fanatical MJ fan. I never bought a single album. I never had a poster of him on my wall. I never went to one of his concerts, or bought one of his books. Still, Michael was there. As Michael matured, I did too. I grew up, got married and had children. Michael did the same, in his own strange and spectacular fashion. He kept producing music, having surgeries and going to court. I was a busy mom; I just didn’t pay that much attention to the King of Pop in his Neverland fantasy world. I didn’t follow all of his trials and travails. I learned of his exploits only from the tabloid covers in the grocery store and the occasional story on the evening news. I never sought out news about Michael Jackson, I just didn’t care that much.
Given my minimal attention to the King of Pop, I didn’t immediately understand why I felt such a profound loss when he died. The depth of my emotion at his passing was a shock to me. The days following his death I sat glued to the TV with the rest of the world, trying to make sense of what happened. I watched MJ documentaries and interviews. I sought out You Tube videos of his music and discovered many songs and video clips I hadn’t seen before. In that period of searching I was deeply moved by the magic of Michael Jackson, and I felt more than ever, the profound ways that he had touched the world.
Michael was a much maligned and misunderstood, eccentric musical artist and performer. But, I feel that he was so much more. As a performer, Michael Jackson had the ability to transform people, to lift them up and let them see the better part of themselves. As I listened again to the lyrics of his songs I found profound messages of peace, love and understanding. And what better way to send a message, than through music? If God wanted to send a message to the modern world, why wouldn’t he do it through a medium that most of the world already follows? Why wouldn’t he send his message through the music and song that comes to our ears through our television, our radio, the Internet, our iPods and in concert halls all over the world?
Jesus was the original Christian messenger. He was a gentle, humble man who traveled the land gathering crowds to teach them about the love between all mankind. Wherever he went he attracted masses of adoring and devoted followers. Jackson also had a message and traveled to spread his musical religion. People the world over loved and adored him as the King of Pop. He is arguably one of the world’s most universally celebrated personalities. Today he has a following of millions, perhaps billions, of fans. Jackson’s message was delivered with a good dose of pop music. But the lessons are there, front and center. In his song “Heal the World,” he sings: “Heal the world make it a better place for you and for me and the entire human race.” In “Man in the Mirror” he asks people to do better: “If you want to make the world a better place take a look at yourself and make the change.”
Michael’s messages were important, basic and deep. In the song Black or White he is making a statement about race. The chorus repeats: “It doesn’t matter if you’re black or white.” The video shows people from many different countries and cultures, a favorite theme of Jackson’s. Global and racial peace is at the heart of many of his most important videos. At the conclusion of “Black or White” we see a series of male and female faces morphing into every race imaginable: from Asian, to Hispanic, Middle Eastern, to white and finally black.
I realize that I want so badly for the world to hear, understand, and act on the messages in Michael’s songs. “Heal the world, make it a better place…it doesn’t matter if you’re black or white… take a look at yourself and make a change.” But I fear that Michael’s messages will be lost because most people can’t see past his eccentric personality. I’m sure that early Christians felt similarly. Many people had neither seen nor heard Jesus while he was alive. How could his message live on? I also realized that if I dwelt too much on the idea of Jesus the man, I would be less able to internalize his message. In addition, as evidenced by the holy-spirit meter, I realize that I am better able to hear a message when it is delivered through song… and dance.
Another hallmark of any Michael Jackson performance is his dancing. There is no one, but no one, who can dance like Michael Jackson. No matter the song’s subject matter, watching Jackson dance is like nothing else. He exudes such joy in the physicality of his performance and he lets us revel in the glory of the human body. His energy is focused entirely on the audience and he gives every fiber of his being so unselfishly in each performance. Michael Jackson loves his audience and all mankind. With every note he sings we can feel it, see it and most of all - experience it!
In addition to healing the world and spreading peace, Jackson’s other major theme was saving the environment. In his “Earth Song” Michael sings of saving the planet and its natural resources. The video is very powerful and extremely moving. The song lyrics say, “What have we done to the world? Look what we've done. Did you ever stop to notice, all the children dead from war? Did you ever stop to notice this crying Earth its weeping shores?”
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his song is very prescient and seems to speak to the type of disaster that we are now seeing in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill tragedy. The song also speaks to the disaster in the Middle East and the endless wars that are tearing our earth apart: “What about the holy land? Torn apart by greed. What about the common man? Can't we set him free?”
I can’t watch this video without feeling such an extreme emotion. In it, Michael shows us several families – one in Africa and one in the Middle East (maybe Palestine?) He shows dead animals, trees being cut down, ravaged and burned landscapes. As he sings with his arms outstretched (reminiscent of Jesus on the cross) the song builds in crescendo, emotion and speed and at the climax the trees, the animals, the landscapes, even the dead people are restored to life.
In an interview with Jackson in 1983 when he was just 24 years old, he says, “Kids and animals and God, they’re so magic, I can’t even explain it. When I am around them I feel like I can do anything. The majority of my success is from the inspiration of kids.” At the 1993 Super Bowl in Los Angeles Michael gave a half time show that was an incredible tribute to global cooperation and understanding. The entire stadium held up colored placards that created a set of drawings by children. It depicted children of all races holding hands. Jackson opened his song “Heal the world” with the following statement: “Today we stand together all around the world joined in a common purpose: to remake the planet into a haven of joy and understanding and goodness. No one should have to suffer, especially our children. This time we must succeed. This is for the children of the world.”
His song ends with a huge globe being inflated and children of all races in their ethnic costumes holding hands in a huge circle. It was so moving, and even on a field filled with the extreme masculinity and violence of a football game, the crowd was overcome with emotion and elation. The song ends with these words “Save the world we live in. Save it for our children.”
Michael’s love of children was well known. He built his Neverland Ranch, named after Peter Pan’s mythical place where children never grow up, complete with a zoo and amusement park rides. He invited children, especially those who were terminally ill to enjoy the fantasy world he had created there.
The same year that Jackson made his incredible statement of purpose for saving the earth for our children and creating a “haven of joy,” he was accused of child molestation. Jordan Chandler, a boy who had spent time with Jackson, accused Michael of an inappropriate physical relationship. The family took money instead of pursuing a trial. In 2004, he was accused again, this time by a different boy. They took it to trial and Michael was not convicted.
After Michael’s death, his first accuser, Jordan Chandler, admitted that the charges were false and that his father had manipulated him into telling the lie for money. Even more incredible, Chandler’s father committed suicide five months after Michael died.
In a sequence of events similar to Jesus’ betrayal, his subsequent trial and finally his crucifixion, Michael was also falsely accused and sent to trial. During the child abuse scandals, Michael was almost literally crucified in the media. Just as Jesus had his mortal enemies, so did Michael Jackson. It seems that nothing good in this world can exist without the equal force of evil to counteract it. It’s as if there is a kind of cosmic battle to create equilibrium – too much goodness may cause utopia, too much evil may cause hell – the world needs a balance between fanaticism and extremism. Or, perhaps it was simply a matter of being human – greed and selfishness can ruin the mightiest of mortals.
It was after the first accusation of child molestation that things started going downhill for Michael Jackson. He was taking painkillers and performing more facial surgeries. From a very young age, Michael had been under the scrutiny of the media. This can be very difficult for a young person who is coming to terms with his own physical identity. Now Michael had the world wondering if he were a child molester. It was a very painful time and he suffered greatly. Michael covered his pain by trying to make himself perfect. He had so many surgeries that at one point he looked positively grotesque.
It was a combination of the surgeries and his skin disease vitiligo that transformed Michael into a different category of human. He morphed into a being that was: not fully black nor white, not entirely male nor female, not quite an adult, but neither was he a child. It was so strange and almost surreal his transformation in front of our very eyes. No one could understand it. And what normally happens when people don’t understand a thing - they instantly reject it. Michael became a different type of human being. His body was androgynous, his face asexual. His race was not easily identifiable. In essence, he had no human category. He had seemingly become all of us.
At the rehearsal for what was to be his last concert tour Michael told the assembled staff of dancers and singers that they were all about to embark on a very important mission. He said that they were part of something very special and it was all about transporting people to another realm though escapism – taking people to places they had never been before.
This is true! This is how I feel when I watch Michael Jackson, I feel transported to another time and space. I feel a celebration of life and living through rhythm and dance. Michael told the cast to spread love, to be love, to send love into the world all the time. He also said that part of their mission was to let people know that it’s time to take care of the earth.
In the end, this music-loving PK has decided that she has found something transcendent in the life of Michael Jackson. Through his message I have rediscovered the meaning of Christianity. I am like that person who gazes upon a beautiful painting or reads a piece of poetry or sees a tremendous sunset and feels that they have been touched by the hand of God. When I watch Michael Jackson I feel awed, healed, uplifted. I believe in Michael’s idea of remaking the “world into a haven of joy and understanding and goodness.” And I hope to do all I can to carry on his legacy and his mission. I am comforted that Jackson’s music will live on and generations to come will hear and be inspired by the artist who gave his life so that we could live again through rhythm and dance. Through Michael I feel that the holy-spirit meter is alive and well. I am so grateful for his time on this earth, and for the magic of his music and the blessing of the message that he bestowed so beautifully upon the world.