Lessons from Jackson’s tragic life

The world is mourning the death of an icon. The sudden demise of Michael Jackson has touched everyone on one level or another, but it seems mainly for the wrong reasons. To be sure when anyone dies at a relatively young age it is a tragedy. The fact that the person is famous makes it no more or less so. The tragedy here is not the death of Michael Jackson rather it was his life and the predictable way he died.

Jackson was clearly unwell on multiple levels. However, the deepest of his illnesses was spiritual. Here was a man who had everything a person could ever wish for. He had fame, wealth and immense accomplishments. But he remained deeply unhappy and relied on the adulation by others, material objects and prescription drugs for his happiness.

By celebrity standards Jackson was extremely generous. However, records show that the single biggest check he ever wrote to a charity was for $100,000 in November 1996. This is a sad reflection of the priorities of a person who earned billions of dollars over his life time and if he had lived was going to pay well over one million dollars to rent a house in the UK for six months.

Temporary contentment

When materialism becomes person’s idol they will pursue it at the cost of all else. Most people do not ever realize that more physical objects never bring contentment. As a result they continue chasing more of it their entire lives. Only the very wealthy come to this realization. Those who are more insightful turn to charity giving and spirituality to obtain a real sense of fulfillment. Others, however, try and find it in more intense forms of material pleasures. This is why the mega wealthy often have multiple marriages and pursue recreational activities that are extreme and often risky.

Ultimately many find that even the most intense forms of physical thrills and pleasures only bring temporary contentment and within a short period of time discontent returns. It is at this point that many will turn to drugs and other dangerous, even life threatening, activities. This results in someone like Michael Jackson who had it all dying early in an unusual manner. The degenerative lives lived by many celebrities and mega wealthy individuals in the West can also be explained in this manner.

Unfortunately our societal values (or lack thereof) and Capitalism in its current form significantly contributes to this tragedy. The attainment of material wealth must be seen as a means to an end rather than as an end in itself. Money should be viewed as a tool to be used to create a better world. The more wealth one can accumulate the more of a positive impact one can have.

Media focuses on financial success  

We must stop idolizing wealth on its own and instead we need to start respecting those who use their wealth for the betterment of society and the world at large. People like Warren Buffet and Bill Gates should be admired for their ability to build personal wealth but they should be venerated, respected and revered primarily for the good they have done with their wealth.

Unfortunately despite all his fame, wealth and accomplishments Michael Jackson deserves to be relegated to the dustbins of history. If only he would have had better values and more enlightened proprieties he would have been able to achieve so much for society, the world and for himself. If only our society will learn the lessons of Jacksons tragic life. Instead, it seems the media can only focus on his materialistic successes that brought him nothing but misery. Will we ever learn?