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Fame delusion

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 11, 2009

Michael Jackson is dead. Shocking, I know. Originally I was intending to write about school test scores, but that will have to wait. I am going to cover the Jackson story like, it seems, every other journalist has. I hope, however, to give it a more humane twist.

There is no doubt Jackson was one of the greatest entertainers to ever live. His smooth moves and catchy songs turned him into one of the wealthiest and most revered musicians in history. Yet it is the private man who interests me.

I hope you were able to sit back after the wall-to-wall coverage of Jackson's death and learn something from his life. It again proved that fame and fortune are not all they are cracked up to be. In a 1983 interview, Jackson was asked, "Do you have any friends?" He paused for a moment and gave a sheepish smile that turned into a concerned glare. In reality, billions knew of Michael Jackson, but he was lonely and admitted it to Oprah Winfrey in 1993.

A few days after Jackson's death, I saw a report on the Harvard Grant Study, which followed the best and brightest of Harvard's students from the early 1940s until their deaths, a group that included John F. Kennedy. These men answered questions every two years about their lives. The findings are interesting: Relationships and faith are the keys to happiness. Simple as that. But Jesus could have told you that.

You are dying. I am dying. Stop running after fame or fortune. Learn from another's troubled life. As the Rev. Lucious Smith proclaimed in his benediction at Jackson's funeral, "But even now the King of Pop must bow his knee to the King of Kings." We will all be there one day, so ask the person staring back in your mirror to change.

David Chauncey is a student at the University of Florida.

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