July 7th, 2009 Requiem for the Stars
July 7th is called Tanabata in Japan. It is a romantic day, falling on the seventh day of the seventh month (used to be lunar months) when two lovers in heaven, Orihime and Hikoboshi, separated by a river (the Milky Way), are given a chance to meet once every year. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanabata)
We’ve watched so many stars pass away this past month, starting with the amazing Farrah Fawcett. Her presence was felt so strongly that until I read she was in Charlie’s Angels for only one season, I thought she left after four or five seasons. And within hours of her death, we heard that Michael Jackson was carried into a hospital with cardiac arrest. News of his death seemed so surreal.
I grew up with these stars, but I wonder what makes us want to spend a whole week in front of the TV for one star, while another one is forgotten so quickly. Do we remember those that we choose to, or are we force fed to remember by CNN? Michael Jackson was certainly great, but was he Princess Diana great? Did his moonwalk surpass the deeds of Mother Teresa? Did he change the musical world more than the Beatles? Or is this weeklong mourning a fabrication because the 24-hour news channels had nothing better to do?
Who are we to know that his death might have also caused the demise of the next Iranian Revolution, the precious media minutes now sucked up by the Hoover-powered vacuum cleaner of his star power? Why is it that the greed of Joe Jackson and Michael’s lawyers and relatives is so much more important than the coup in the Honduras, the unrest in Iran, the violence in China, the nuclear arms pact with Russia, the survival of GM, and the health care of 60 million uninsured Americans?
We celebrate his music, but I haven’t heard a single person tell us that he or she would want to become “like Michael Jackson.” There’s a Japanese saying that the genius and idiot are separated only by the thickness of paper. The genius of Michael Jackson resided neither in his music nor his dancing, but in his ability to “shock” us. This same trait scared us, for who else will dare dangle a baby from a balcony window or carve up his true face with the knives of deception.
On the week-end of the tragedy of Farrah, who’s inner beauty and strength matched the forever image of her pinup poster, and of Michael, who’s inner talent was never a match of his eccentric exterior, the stars of the sports world aligned with Roger Federer laying claim to the title—best tennis player ever—and Tiger Woods winning his 68th tourney. But the lingering image of the day was Tiger Woods signing and handing over the winning golf ball to a veteran who’d lost his limbs dedicating his life to make everyone a little bit safer.
And if there ever were to be a Requiem for Stars, perhaps it should be given to those who made a difference, those whose influence on society was so positive that we will remember July 7th not only as a romantic day for people living in Japan, but for everyone in the world wishing to be inspired.
Now, let me set my DVR for tomorrow’s Michael Jackson Memorial Service.
Joseph Lee is an independent consultant and executive coach. He is also an Adjunct Professor at both the Peter F. Drucker and Masatoshi Ito Graduate School of Management and Pepperdine’s Graziadio School of Business and Management where he teaches second-year MBA courses in Management Consulting. In addition, Mr. Lee is also an author, writing International Business Thrillers, including his debut novel The Sky Burns Red (赤く燃える空) which was published in Japan. A sequel is scheduled to be released fall, 2009.
