Yesterday, Michael Jackson was given a hero's farewell, aside from the fact that he never did anything heroic--unless you count making people feel good when they listen to his music.
Over the weekend, I read a story in the Orlando Sentinel about a real hero, a dad who was vacationing with his family several weeks ago and sacrificed his own life for his son. The man and his kids were playing on a natural rock water slide in North Carolina when the 12-year-old boy got his foot trapped in some rocks. The father leaped in, stood between his son and the raging current, attempting to dislodge his foot. He did this for 40 minutes until rescuers arrived and managed to pull his son to safety. Before rescuers were able to save the dad, he succumbed and was overwhelmed by the current--estimated to be 400 pounds of pressure bearing down on him while he was shielding his son.
Juxtapose the image of this father with the image of Michael Jackson dangling his infant son over a balcony for the paparazzi several years ago. Juxtapose this image with that of Jackson's own father, mocking him for his "big nose" and beating him brutally when he wouldn't sing up to his expectations. Yeah, this guy was no hero. He was a deeply damaged man, abused by his deranged father, who exploited his talent and robbed him and his brothers of their childhood. As this article seems to suggest, he was a spiritual seeker, but he apparently never found what he was looking for.
Most good dads would gladly throw themselves in front of a train for their kids, but it seems there are few problems in the world that can't somehow be traced to bad fathers.
5 comments:
Thank you for saying what many of us have been thinking during this time.
Good fathers are hard to come by, and some of the best ones are taken too soon.
Fathers are something special. Mine was the best! (no offense) :)
Good points, Matthew! It has been pretty sickening to watch how Michael Jackson has been elevated to the status of god. One person even told me by way of Facebook that MJ has done more than God or Jesus ever did! Imagine? The guy has been practically worshiped. So many people have been saying how "sad" it is that he died--like they forget that we all die at one point. They wouldn't be saying that if it was some 90 year old grandmother.
I think Ann Coulter had something to say about that in her new book.
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