Written by: Janette Marie
© 2010 Janette Marie
Your name, given to you at birth. A gift from your Mother that you will use and hear everyday of your life. This Name becomes the “verbal expression” people have as a “visual” in their mind of the person they know you to be. There is almost nothing more personal or important to us than “our good name.”
Parents give their children their name, but as they grow and develop and have their own life they define their name by their human traits; love, honesty, faithfulness, trust worthiness, goodness, leadership and charity. When we think of “Great People” we think of people such as; Martin Luther King, Princess Diana, Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela and John F. Kennedy we are reminded of the wonderful contributions they have made to humanity, our country and the world. So to become one of this group of “Great People” we would naturally compare someone’s traits and accomplishments to Great People in our history. Things to consider would be what have they done for their family, friends, country, world, for the underprivileged, contributions to art and creativity in the world. Have they been a positive force of existence, or change, or positive role model for others. Have they reached outside of their own needs and wants to fulfill the needs and wants of others less fortunate than themselves.
There is one person in our recent history, that I believe should be placed in this special category of “Great People” and that is, Michael Jackson. First of all this person’s personal accomplishments in life go without question. From humble beginnings in the city of Gary, Indiana, at the age of five to begin a performing career to span decades and reach all the far corners of the world is an amazing accomplishment for anyone. This special man has not sat on his laurels, or squandered that which he was given as a gift from God, his musical, creative and performing talents. Michael took these talents, converted them into money that would benefit so many children and needy people around the GLOBE. He has done this with the utmost humility and grace and to me this is enough to place him at the top of the list of Great People, and on a list all of its own creation “Greatest Humanitarian” of our lifetime.
The sad thing is, that along with these wonderful accomplishments, they themselves are God’s precious work in the world and therefore an open target for the opposing evil in the world. For every good in the world there is an equal opposing evil force ready to attempt to take the good out of our world. It is up to us as people of God’s creating to choose good over evil and protect each other from those forces of “bad” or “evil” that threaten to take us down as good, loving , caring people.
I am in particular referring to the life and tribulations of Michael Jackson. Here is a person that we, the world, have known of him since he was five years old. We have grown up with him and his family, they have provided us with music, love and laughter for many years. We know this family to be of good character and religious beliefs and practices. When did this ever change? It didn’t. We as people forgot that this is what Michael Jackson was about, and that this is what his family is about. People don’t go from such deep religious beliefs to evil, if so, it would be extremely rare. I have found in my lifetime that a majority of people are honest people - the good being plentiful in our world - we as people in general just need to remember this and begin to trust each other again.
The biggest evil I believe in our world is the media outlets that choose to not print the truth. They choose to print the first available, sensational story and don’t verify their information before they put it into mass print and in coverage on the airwaves. The really sad thing is that we as people believe this stuff without question. If someone said something about you in a negative light on the airwaves wouldn’t you expect that your friends and family would say - hey no way - they wouldn’t do that… and question that media source. Well we should all be doing the same about the media every day with every story they print or air. We need to question, use our common sense and our “knowledge” to either give validity to the information or not. We need to research the things that we question and expose lies for what they are. We are the only ones that can police the media. We are the only ones that can stop purchasing rag tabloids or other sources that continue to print hurtful lies about people!
There are numerous wonderful stories of truths that the media could have and should have printed and placed on the air waves about Michael Jackson. There are many examples of charitable contributions and humanitarian works that Michael had made in his lifetime. Money donated, medical equipment, toys & gifts to orphanages, music recordings and concert tours that profits went to feed the hungry around the world. Treating terminally ill children to fun days either at Neverland or other places around the world. A reported 325 million in his short life-time was donated. One small example was the accident that burned him during the filming of a Pepsi Commercial - 125 million was received and donated - keeping nothing for himself.
What I find to have been most saddening in his life are the false accusations made by Jordan Chandler and Gavin Arvizo. The case in 2005 brought about the most ugly violation of civil rights that I have seen in my lifetime. In these United States, it is the Right of all citizens, to be afforded the presumption of innocence until proven guilty in a court of law by a jury of their peers. This right was stolen from Michael Jackson prior to and during the 2005 court case. He was tried and convicted by the media in the open press around the world by the printing and airing of lies. The prosecutor in this case even submitted into the court case evidence that he, himself had fabricated. This fact came to light during the trial, why was Tom Sneddon, not arrested and read his rights in the courtroom. Why have charges not been placed against Tom Sneddon for this violation…he should be charged/arrested/fingerprinted/made to face a jury for his breaking of the law. We cannot allow officers of the court to get away with this kind of in- justice and misconduct. The justice system is here to work for us not to send innocent people to jail.
To top off the total injustice of Michael Jackson having to be charged and face a trail in court for something he was innocent of… and found innocent by a jury that heard the evidence and witnessed the fabricated evidence was what happened after he was acquitted of all the charges and the “boys” admitting to fabricating their stories.
The newspaper, news reports on television, television stations & rag tabloids all still continue to print negative untrue stories about Michael Jackson. They weren’t done defaming his name.
The media was not about to give up all the money they were raking in on the “Michael Jackson Story” so they continued to make up stuff just to continue writing articles about Michael Jackson - so they resorted back to their habit writing untrue stories about this man.
I do support the right of Americans to have and maintain “freedom of Speech” however, this right is not guaranteed if it takes away the rights of another. In this case, freedom of speech robbed Michael Jackson of his right to his Good Name …. his reputation…. His career!
How does the world repay him? Well, I think it would go a long way if we can regain for him, as he rightly deserves, his “Good Name”.
What I would like to see, is a congressional apology to Michael Jackson and his family for the injustices put upon him in the court case and in the media.
There needs to be public awareness that “all jokes” about innocent people aren’t funny. When it hurts the feelings of someone or the reputation of someone it is no longer a joke. Enough of these jokes spread around and it makes the stories that the media makes up or exaggerates easier to sell to make a profit.
Unfortunately, we are not able to erase the past, take away the hurt and damage that the wrong doings of the past created; however, we do have the ability to apologize. We have the duty to apologize and the duty to correct those things that we can. The sad thing is, there still exists in the mass public those uneducated, misinformed and prejudice people that will make it their life’s work to torment, lie about, and hate someone like Michael Jackson.
It is however, their loss, they will never allow themselves to come to know this beautiful person, the loving soul, this giving and caring person that was living amongst us. We were all too blind to see him, to hear him, to know him.
My hope is that the world, thanks to Michael Jackson, will be more aware of these things that take the light of our beings and lower its wattage… that we begin to believe in each other again. That we learn to love and trust our neighbors and that we aren’t afraid to say the words, “I Love You.” Not just to family and friends but our brothers and sisters around the world We are all here together, we are either going to make it together as one or we will all fall together. We have only one life and only one planet. Let each of us let our inner light shine and this world would be a much better place. His Legacy.
© 2010 Janette Marie
