That red leather jacket, that monster dance routine, Vincent Price’s creepy voice and then those glowing eyes at the end of the song. That’s what I, and I suppose most people remember about Thriller, the title song from an album that secured Michael Jackson’s legacy as one of the greatest entertainers of the twentieth century.
Watching the Leaving Neverland documentary and listening to the harrowing accounts of two men abused by a man they both loved and worshipped you could sense a seismic shift happening. Many people would never be able to look at Michael Jackson in the same way or even listen to his music. Music ingrained into our collective psyche.
Of course many people believe he is innocent of all charges, that he was innocent in every sense of the word. Innocent and childlike which meant he could sleep with children in his bed because it wasn’t in him to do such horrible things.
It’s close to midnight… and no one’s about to save you from the beast about to strike.
But it was. In all likelihood Michael Jackson was abused himself, subject as he was to a childhood on the road playing clubs and arenas as part of the Jackson 5. A little boy experiencing unsavoury things that would profoundly affect him as an adult.
You hear the door slam… and realise there’s nowhere left to run
For someone so adored, so famous, so venerated by his millions of fans, the idea of him being bad as he once claimed may take a long time to accept. They will point to the millions he gave to charity. His generosity and his concern for under privileged children. He brought inspiration and joy into people’s lives with his songs and dance routines. Everyone wanted to moonwalk did they not?
But, if you believe his accusers he also caused huge emotional damage arresting the development of boys whose trust he betrayed.
We have a fixation with making people good or bad often forbidding the two to co-exist simultaneously. Yet this seems obvious and self evident, we experience it in our own lives. The truth is we are many parts good and bad. Some people do more good than bad and vice versa. This balance or imbalance can be caused by many things.
Some people, whether through upbringing or religious guilt, never feel as if they’re doing enough good whilst others are entirely comfortable with what they do or do not do. People often feel guilty because they’re aware of their shortcomings but lack the drive to change. If they hear harsh words instead of encouragement from people close to them then the chances of them redressing the ‘imbalance’ are further diminished.
If the good things we do are obscured then it prevents us from building on these good things. We must not beat ourselves up if we struggle for motivation, for self belief and the energy to do more or to do better in life. People do find it hard to put themselves into positions where they can make positive changes for fear of failure or ridicule and whilst this doesn’t make them bad, it limits the extent they can feel good about themselves and do more good.
Doing more good for me would be to do more environmentally. Despite a great love for the countryside and a passion for walking, I’ve struggled to become cleaner and greener. The urgency with which we must act to save our planet is not lost on me but I’ve failed to take any personal responsibility hiding behind a collective ignorance. I need to learn more about recycling plastics, alternative energy and look at the examples of friends who are doing their bit. I have often felt the bad in me is not what I do but what I don’t do.
If we can embrace the good and be proactive about it, pursuing passions and sharing them with others we can build foundations that will help us address our flaws. For that we need others too, to support us, to build our resilience and to encourage us when our tendency towards the bad is strong.
