Blessed are the Peacemakers. Blessed? How blessed? Well, let’s see…
Jesus was a peacemaker and savior. How blessed was Jesus? Oh that’s right, he was crucified. Was Nelson Mandela blessed? No, he spent a large part of his adult life in prison. Well, maybe you were thinking of Lady Diana Spencer? No, not her either; she died in a car accident while being hounded by the Paparazzi. Perhaps John Lennon? Oh, that’s right,
he was gunned down in front of his home.
How about His Holiness the Dalai Lama. No, he was exiled from his homeland during an invasion and genocidal attack by another country. Perhaps Martin Luther King comes to mind? Nope, he was killed by a sniper. The Kennedys, John and Robert—they worked for peace and justice? Oh that’s right, they were assassinated.
Blessed are the peacemakers? What peacemaker was blessed? Let’s see… well, there was Michael Jackson. Michael Jackson? A peacemaker? Oh yes, peacemaker and global humanitarian. He was blessed with lots of talent, an incredible voice, unparalleled fame and a staggering personal fortune. He lived the privileged life. Michael was blessed, right?
Oh wait… for his philanthropy; broad generosity; his role as humanity’s global cheerleader; his worldwide ambassadorship work meeting with heads of state, politicians and militaries; his global humanitarian efforts and donations for and on behalf of charities; his sponsorship of children and the fight for their health and rights, he was blessed, right?
What? He was ridiculed? Humiliated? Scorned? Made the butt of jokes and unkind remarks? Hunted and hounded? Called derogatory names? For decades? Accused and tried for crimes he didn’t commit and found innocent, yet is “remembered” for the crime? Imprisoned in his home, hotel rooms and his life because of his fame? Extorted for money by unscrupulous sycophants? Then allegedly killed by a doctor who was supposed to be his personal healer?
Blessed are the peacemakers? Really? We don’t appear to do so well with them. Oh sure, we have organizations like Green Peace, Amnesty International, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Sister Cities International, UNESCO, the United Nations. We are outstanding peacemakers, right?
You don’t become a peacemaker by teaching peace; you become a peacemaker by bringing into being that which you seek. Does that mean passively accepting whatever is and wishing that it gets better? My mother used to say “Wish in one hand and poop in the other and see which fills up faster. What a wise woman! No, activism for change can be sacred! Sacred activism is peacemaking in becoming.
So I ask: where is the worldwide family of citizens who demand protection and recognition for these, our global human treasures? We preserve antiquities, burial lands, tribal lands and archeological digs but we have no global movement, society, governing agent or law to protect our highly visible philanthropic humans? We have corporate law, military law, martial law, domestic law and unwritten laws about human civility. Where is the law about treating benevolent and human treasures kindly if not reverently?
Instead, we relentlessly try entertainment and celebrity people in the court of public opinion. We somehow think that because they stand on a world stage that we have license to their lives—that we own them? We think we have a right to demand something, anything from them? And when did it become necessary for them to push the envelope to and become the latest form of outrageous in order to hold our flickering attention? When did they have to start perpetually reinventing themselves and raise the stakes in order to regain our momentarily wavering attention span? When did it become acceptable to rush an entertainer and grab a souvenir no matter if it’s a piece of hair or flesh? How is it civil to make people so afraid of the very people they live to please simply because their face is so well known? When was it ever civil to interrupt a celebrity no matter where they are or what they are doing to ask for an autograph—for a simple scrawl of ink on paper? When did it become civil behavior to hunt and haunt people, elevate them to unparalleled fame and then imprison them within the restricted and confined lives we press them into? There is something not only dysfunctional and distasteful, but inhumane about all that.
We bring charges and trials to people who abuse other people. We arrest people who break into other people’s sacred domiciles. But we allow unscrupulous photographers and journalists to splay and slay people in revealing and public headlines and stories?
We take people to jail who are trespassing on property and lurking in areas where they don’t belong, arrest those who window peek, prosecute people who harass, and charge for false imprisonment or kidnapping except when the perp has a badge. When false arrest and prosecution on flimsy or trumped evidence is visited upon an individual by law enforcement we are OK with that? We let them get away with such a violation of rights? Even when that abuse does permanent damage to someone’s psyche that eventually leads to illness, drug dependence, health issues and eventual demise?
We have license to invade people’s privacy, dignity and lives looking for what… a fix or morsel of information about their lives? Isn’t that an invasion of privacy? A kind of sick addiction? Where do we get that right? Or even the idea that we might have that right? Commandment number 11: If deemed a celebrity, thou shalt not do anything, go anywhere, decide something, or otherwise navigate your life without letting your public know and providing them all the details, private, sordid or otherwise.
We have nothing to protect or give recourse to families when a beloved one is abused or snatched from them and us by the unscrupulous criminal or not? We prosecute people for false arrest, for unlawful kidnapping, but not for destroying careers, reputations or sullying a lifetime of work?
What I want to know is what did I lose? What stroke of genius was withheld from me? What brilliant discovery or solution never happened? How many people lost something important? How many people were not saved? Millions? A few thousand? One?
What did not happen because Martin Luther King died when he did? How many more children would Lady Diana have saved had she lived? What corrupt factions would have fallen had the Kennedys lasted in the political arena? In the years that Mandela was in prison, what social reforms did not occur? What humanitarian endeavors didn’t take place because Michael was treated so badly he had trouble sleeping and that led to his death allegedly at the hands of a healer? What spiritual movies like the fantasy Avatar will never be made because Michael didn’t get to live to pursue his dream of moviemaking? Where is the public outrage and global push to recognize, protect and cherish the human treasures among us? Where is YOUR voice? Where are YOU?
© B. Kaufmann 2010
10 Comments
Barbara, this post has really made me think long and hard. I think that Peacemakers have not been blessed the way they should have been. They all died far too young, with perhaps grand things still to come. I want to see acts of humanity, genius, people uniting nations and colours and more inspirational messages through music and film. I am ready to stand up and shout. Please don’t stop examining Michael there are so many of us now following you. I feel blessed to have discovered your website. Love, Anne, UK.
This is brilliant, every time I read your articles I get inspired. Ilove how you make it simple and you get to the point; thank you for honoring MJ.
Peace
I have discovered your website only 2 days ago and I honestly have never read wiser words.This is inspiring and helping, because this way I can see that there luckily still are people who care and speak truth.
Your words have strong effects. My wish is that more and more people can read them and you may have influence in your country and over the world. The peacemakers have to be protect of the insanity of selfish people and they are so vulnerable. But it is not only people that hurt them, there are illnessess, many accidents and violence. Why they provoque the madness and the hate? Does shadow work to destroy them?
I cry when reading this – you speak my mind. Once again I thank you.
Maybe the peacemakers weren’t blessed by people and the public, but they were certainly blessed. These names you mention in this post had great wealth and talent and were able to give and touch lives with their fame and influence. There is no higher purpose then to serve. Life is not self but about others. Michael understood this and acted on it every day. He touched so many people. The way these people were treated shows how we need to change. The biggest lesson I learned from Michael’s passing is the condition of the world. You see the way he was treated; you see us.
This is so well written and so very true. I just never thought of it in that same way. It seems we never appreciate what we have in our peacemakers because in fact they seem to step out of that box as human beings we are in and dare to make a change that we wouldn’t. Thank you for your thoughtful and insightful words.
Thank you for this article, Barbara. Itried to explain this to the people around me, to the people who don’t know Michael’s real essence. I mentioned all these wonderful peacemakers whose lives were ruined because they talk about love and peace. I started mentioning Jesus and some of the people asked me very upset, “Are you comparing Michael Jackson to Jesus? Are you crazy?” Obviously they don’t understand anything we are talking about here. Thank you so much for helping me mourn Michael more calmly, though the pain gets stronger every day. L.O.V.E. and PEACE for everybody, Liz
Oh my Lord…. I couldn’t have said any of this better myself and I don’t have trouble with words or expression. When it comes to Michael, I feel like I am a minority amongst my people and I suffer in silence at his passing. There should be more recognition and protection for these people who make a difference to the world. I have never seen anything like the reaction since Michael’s death; it is greater than anyone else that has passed in my opinion. My love, belief in what he stood for and respect for him NEVER waivered over the years. The most beautfiul and innocent person was ridiculed because the layman could not understand that he was in touch with the highest part of his existence and recognised his purpose for living.
The trumped up charges and false accusations about Michael: why was it okay for the media to present only one side? Why wasn’t a family known for extortion more scrutinized? Why is it okay for these lies to stand? With Peacemakers: people may not want to be faced with their own selfish acts because they never help others and condemn those who do for making them feel bad. Why hate someone for doing right? Because it makes you feel guilty for not doing right?
I got so sad when you noted what things would not get done because of so many senseless deaths. Michael had so many things on the horizon–raising his children, retiring and focusing on other projects. I too will miss those movies and his autobiography that will never come.