Rabbi Shmuley offers insightful reflections on the tragedy that is Michael Jackson. (HT: Drudge) Excerpt:
In many ways his tragedy was to mistake attention
for love. I will never forget what he said when we sat down to record
40 hours of conversations where he would finally reveal himself for a
book I authored. He turned to me and said these haunting words: "I am
going to say something I have never said before and this is the truth.
I have no reason to lie to you and God knows I am telling the truth. I
think all my success and fame, and I have wanted it, I have wanted it
because I wanted to be loved. That's all. That's the real truth. I
wanted people to love me, truly love me, because I never really felt
loved. I said I know I have an ability. Maybe if I sharpened my craft,
maybe people will love me more. I just wanted to be loved because I
think it is very important to be loved and to tell people that you love
them and to look in their eyes and say it." One cannot read these words
without feeling a tremendous sadness for a soul that was so surrounded
with hero-worship but remained so utterly alone. . . [more...]
Update: For a negative review of Michael Jackson's life and a refusal to join the mourning, see Jonah Goldberg's reflectons.