The Bad, the Bad and the Ugly

Hopefully your life is full enough that you are not "following" the Michael Jackson trial. If you have, however, seen the highlights on the news every night you know that Jackson is a full-blown, certifiable, cut-the-strings-of-reality WACKO. It's really sad to see him in this state because if you're my age you can remember him when he was young, good looking and nobody suspected his destination was today's insanity.

The problem at Neverland (I can't bring myself to call it Ranch... maybe petting zoo, but that has too many negative implications) is that Jackson was so wealthy, so powerful that no one dared to challenge him. Everyone around Jackson was on his payroll. They were making their livings, most of them quite lucrative, off of his generosity. Jackson had an infestation of leeches and lampreys that attached themselves to him and would not risk their parasitic pleasures by questioning Jackson's activities. A long time ago... maybe when the world was still seeing a young artist at the very beginning of a life of greatness... someone should have checked Jackson. Someone should have held him by the lapels and looked into his face and told him, "That's not acceptable. Get control of yourself." Now, years later, the artist formerly known as The King of Pop is a barely recognizable human freakshow. It is a tragedy.

There are other examples of this type of power and ego run amok. Kim Jong Il is the "beloved" leader of North Korea. The stories of his life,(I particularly like the story of his first golf outing wherein he shot 6 holes in one) as they are already being recorded by state historians are ludicrous and laughable, except that they tell a story just like Jackson's. No one sits with the North Korean leader who can tap him on the shoulder and tell him, "Come back to reality." Now, with nuclear capabilities and a willingness to preemptively strike perceived enemies he endangers the entire world.

Saddam Hussein was in this camp also. As Hussein thumbed his nose at the US and the UN in the last five years most of us couldn't imagine his motivation. I wondered, and I probably wasn't the only one, if he was insane. Apparently, no one in his cabinet was willing to tell him the truth about his military capabilities. The generals who answered to him were all continuing to give him glowing reports about their respective responsibilities. No one said, "You can't really defeat the US. You can't even put up a good fight."

Most of us don't run the risk of becoming so powerful or so wealthy that the people around us are unable to confront us when we stray. Consider that a blessing. Consider friends who know you well enough to be brutally honest with you a great gift. Be willing to hear the truth from your friends. Encourage them to correct you. Ask for accountability.