We are the World, We are the Children

My two-year-old daughter loves to dance, “elbows out” to the song, “Billie Jean.” She sticks one elbow out at a time and shakes her bum back and forth. It is heart-breakingly adorable. Like many households, ours has recently been rediscovering some new and old moves to the classic Michael Jackson songs as of late, in mourning of the entertainer’s sudden death last week.
Aside from his musical talents, the King of Pop was known for his eccentricity. Roller coasters, monkeys and exotic animals, oxygen chambers, plastic surgeries, along with various other extremes (and alleged perversions) surrounded the Neverland Ranch. At what point did that eccentricity start to mold into something beyond a peculiarity and into more of an illness? His idiosyncrasies propelled his fame past his talent alone, there is no question. Was that type of spotlight helpful or more harmful to his underlying issues? His fans delighting in his strangeness may have only amplified his problems or perversions. In the definition of ‘Eccentricity,’ it is described as, “usually suggesting a mildly amusing but harmless characteristic or style.” How harmless was it, I wonder? Michael was no doubt, a troubled and seemingly tormented soul. Where do quirks and oddities cross the line into becoming unhealthy habits or obsessions?
The topic comes down to the importance of perspective and moderation, I think. You can take just about anything to an unhealthy extreme, I’ve learned. As a parent I consistently remind myself to station myself in the middle of the road. For instance, I let my kids listen and dance to Michael Jackson’s music, but that doesn’t mean I would have ever signed them up for a sleepover at the guy’s house. The world of parenting is chock-full of extremes. From people who never let their kids outside or eat a single gram of fat, to people who deliberately never know their children’s whereabouts and could care less if their daily nutrition is derived from a bag of candy downed with a liter of Mountain Dew. I’ve seen parents who mindlessly buy their kids video games rated inappropriately and allow them to play without limits. I also know parents who think keeping their kids completely sheltered from any plastic toys or electronics will somehow raise an enlightened individual capable of, well, building wooden block towers, I suppose.
Like Michael’s song, “Black or White,” (even if he couldn’t make up his mind which of the two he was) we can learn a lot from letting go of our differences and ditching some of our radical extremes in this world, especially to the betterment of our children. Abnormal as he was, Michael’s talent was undeniable and many of his songs carried beautiful messages, including this lyric, “We are all a part of God's great big family, and the truth, you know love is all we need,” from the hit, “We are the World.”
It is easy to judge someone like Michael Jackson. He is an obvious target for ridicule and scorn. But I, for one, want to teach my kids to have compassion for him and pray that God has now released him from his inner confusion and pain. I pray God has healed his world.
RIP, MJ.