Abject Geekery

Time and Death heal all wounds. The triumphant and tragic life of a man has come to an end. The King is dead. Long live the King.

I was thinking that others would comment on this before I got around to it, if ever.  But I had a long conversation with a co-worker today and I figured I might as well get some of it down in digital ink.

“The Man” is always holding us people down.

I will say this loud and clear so that there can be no misunderstanding: the recent death of a musical icon has changed my life.

“How?” is the cry I hear from the three or four people (two?) reading this column.  Simple.  The death of this icon has caused me to focus on his life.  The triumphant and tragic life of a man who just wanted to make people happy, but was demonized and vilified by people with no knowledge of fact.  Is it possible that this man committed unspeakable and immoral crimes of the most deplorable nature?  Yes, it is certainly with-in the realm of possibility.  But isn’t it all the more likely that we wanted to believe he committed these crimes?  Is it possible that we wanted to destroy this man?

Sometime in our history we ceased to celebrate success.  Instead we take the members of society who are successful and we demonize them.  We vilify them.  Rare is the person who earns great wealth in the public eye who is not the target of slings and arrows.  I cannot think of a single one.  Oprah?  No, everyone has heard a joke about Steadman, lesbianism, or weight gain.  South Park even focused its satire on her genitalia.

Why do we do this?  Is it jealously?  I think it is fear of inadequacy.

I am by no means a Biblical scholar, but I have heard it said that The Christ most often is quoted as saying “Fear not.”

In the case of this particular man, a man who I have unjustly attacked in the past, the facts are clear: there are no facts.  No facts.  Only conjecture and speculation exist.  Only in the fearful minds of the public do the points against this man hold value.  This is why he was acquitted of charges in a court of law.

Presumption of innocence exists for a reason.  But we now try people in the public media and convict them on accusations without ever checking the facts.  To destroy a man, all one needs to do is feed the media a story that the man is a perpetrator of the most egregious of crimes.  It doesn’t matter if they are true or not.  No evidence needs to be shown.  The man’s life is destroyed without ever being given a chance for defense.

Why do we do that?  This is the question I asked myself.  This is how the death of this man has changed my life.  As I grow older I am fortunate that I also grow wiser.  I hope that I will never stop learning, never stop growing.  I am a better man now then last week, and I hope that this lesson stays with me for all times.  I hope that I am never foolish enough to insult a man without cause ever again.  May time forgive my ignorance?  I certainly pray that it does.

Time will tell a story of infinite sadness.  A story of a child born with the gift of song and dance was paraded by his family before the world and never given the opportunity to grow old.  This man would struggle in secret through the strain of providing for the family who abused him so.  Did his always wonder to himself: “if they didn’t make me sing and dance, would I be who I am now?”  The agony of being a slave to his talent, his passion, his joy, and the family who put him on the world stage.  The prison of being special and unique.  The vileness of people who take advantage of innocence, and then use that as the very lie against him.  The humiliation faced because innocent until proven guilty is just not so.

Make your own assessments whether or not this man was guilty, but know this: it has become our nature to try and bring successful people down.  It has become our pastime to trivialize the unique and debase the beautiful.  It is all the more tragic when this man was still a child at heart because he was never afforded the respect of being allowed to grow up.  This man was half a century old and a father, yet he was still a boy in a bubble.  Still looking out the window to the play ground he could never visit.  May God bless him, have mercy on his soul, and keep his family in peace.

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