6/25/16

Michael Jackson - Your Mirror is a Reflection

On this 25th day of June, 2016, the world still mourns the loss of Michael Jackson.  His light and inspiration have left us a state of wonderment and sorrow.  The world will never have what we had with Michael Jackson.  He was not only a great entertainer, but a pure heart and offering of God's service to mankind.

As I read reports around this day, I can't help but notice the recent reports of child molestation claims, yet again.  It disheartens me to say the least, when I see that people would stoop so low to present this type of material, especially around the anniversary of his death.

Not only was Michel Jackson mistreated by the press and courts during his life, he continues to be mistreated even after his death.  This in and of itself says a great deal about the marketability of Michael Jackson and the character of the press reporting.  Press personnel and others have and still do see Michael Jackson as a brand.  He was something to sell.  They do not view him as a man or a human being, only something they can use to achieve their personal goals.

When gossip papers print stories, like the stories about child pornography, the public mistakenly believes them as truth.  The public is unaware that the media outlet, Radar Online, is self described as a "gossip" outlet, not news.  There is a vast difference in investigative reporting and gossip.  Gossip is not news, it's slander.  Those who make their living at destroying other peoples lives by writing false stories about them need to take a personal inventory.  What is it exactly about what they do that gives them such a thrill?

Whether it be in the public eye or in your own personal life, there will always be people who will see you as someone that reflects something about them.  Our look in the mirror is also how we look and see other people.  Our words and actions reflect the thoughts and ideas we have sown seeds for within ourselves.  If you've ever felt the need to lash out at someone else, most likely it's because that person is reflecting something from within you.

This ordeal does reflect something within me, and if you think about it just for a moment, I'm sure it reflects something within you.  I've been lied about in the past as many of us have.  When people you trust spread ideas and thoughts about you that aren't true it hurts.  Can you imagine how it might be for someone in the public eye when the entire world seems to be doing the same thing?

Personal experience will tell us that the people who engage in such activities have something inside of them that makes them act the way they do.  For some people it's the idea that someone is reflecting an image that makes them seem so much better than they are.  A feeling of jealousy and/or thoughts about how this person can not be as good as they appear to be come crashing in.  If you can't find goodness in yourself, most likely you'll have a hard time finding it in someone else.  If you look hard enough and you want to believe something strong enough, believe me, you'll be able to find the thoughts and actions to back up your current state of beliefs.

Yet our personal beliefs that are formed within ourselves about another person are not necessarily true.  They are the reflection of what we have surmised to based on what we have been told and what we have seen.  People who write scandalous articles about people in the public eye add to this.  They disseminate information to you in order for you to form your opinion.  Information that isn't necessarily true.

Gossip papers, in my opinion, should be banned.  The public at large currently knows no different when they read a story.  If it's in print, they believe that it's the truth.  When reporters take up their pens and begin to extrapolate the truth and add a shocking headline, they do it because they want readers and attention.  Not to report the truth.  It leaves the person they write about hurt and angry and those who know the person, wondering and dumbfounded as to why the press would be so cruel. The reason is simple.  They aren't thinking about anyone else, not the person they are writing about, they're thinking about themselves.

We have to remember that every single word we say, every action we take effects the whole.  In every moment you have a choice.  You can use your time and words to heal or you can use your time and words to hurt and destroy.  When you choose the latter it says a great deal about yourself.  You are reacting from a place within yourself that is hurt and you do it unconsciously.  No thought is given to the repercussions on the other person or where it will go.  Don't react.  Think about it first.  Are you helping by saying or doing what you decide to do or are you hurting?

There is a simple formula that takes place within the human being.  In all of us, we have repeated patterns that we engage in internally moment to moment.  There is first a thought that we interpret. And as most of us know that happens in an instant.  Put five people in a room with the same experience and we get five independent thoughts about what that experience was.

Those interpretations turn into feelings and our own inner rule book for truth.  Suddenly we have formed an opinion and inside of us it's listed as our own personal reference chart to be brought up when ever a similar event occurs.  When this happens the thought is repeated, the feeling is repeated and soon it is ingrained in us and creates our own reality.   Five people could have the same experience, yet five people will be living completely different inner realities based on what they've been told and seen.  Our reference charts differ, because what we've seen and heard differ.

If you have someone telling you the same thing over and over again, sooner or later you will accept is as truth within.  For instance, many years ago a story was propagated around the world that the world was flat.  It was told so much and so often that everyone believed it.  When pioneers went about to find out if it was true, they were laughed at.  Yet today it has been proven that the world is not flat, it's round.  We can't make assumptions that we know the absolute truth today when it's merely an opinion based on other people's words.  Don't let your inner reflection mirror back the thoughts and words of someone else.  This applies to those who tell you your fat and ugly to those who try and lie about you in ways that you yourself know to be untrue.  Before you repeat a story about someone else, take a look at where your need to do so is coming from.  If you wouldn't like it to be done to you, don't do it to someone else.

Micheal Jackson is gone now.  It's been seven years.  All that remains of the media's version of Michael Jackson is his continuing ability to make money.  From the people who have stolen his life to the people who continue to try and destroy his legacy, it's the same.  How much can I gain from writing, taking or telling this story; all with Michael Jackson's name attached to it.  I may be naive, but where did human compassion go or the idea that Michael Jackson was more than a brand?  Is this how the media and others view themselves or have they not stopped long enough to see that Michael Jackson did have a life?  He had dreams, children, and goals, just like you and me.  I truly wish that others could stop being so insensitive.

Elizabeth Taylor often visits me from time to time.  On one occasion we happened to be watching a news story about Tylenol.  The reporter explained that Tylenol is a pain killer but could also affect your ability to feel compassion.  Elizabeth stated with sudden wonderment that "That's what's wrong with the world! Too much Tylenol!"  I have to agree.  There's not enough compassion and too many people willing to cause pain.



No comments: