Monday April 27, 2009 
Monday April 27, 2009 A couple of weeks ago, I joined some friends to attend the preview party for what was to be the famous Michael Jackson auction. I usually don’t hang out with the rich and famous, so I was eagerly anticipating the evening. Plus, come on… aren’t you just a little curious about what stuff Michael Jackson blew his entire fortune on (lawyer fees and payoffs to children aside, of course)?
Well. It was eye-opening, to say the least. The auction showing was held in a now defunct department store in Beverly Hills – the perfect setting. Walking up from the parking lot, you passed through the old gates from his Neverland estate (estimated price of “you-don’t-want-to-know”). After picking up our VIP passes, beautifully embossed with a four-color rendition of the King of Pop, we got some Jesus Juice (what you and I think of as “wine”) and started to wander around the exhibit.
First, the sheer volume of stuff was overwhelming. This is a man who never saw a trinket he didn’t need to have. If it was Baroque and covered with gold scrolls, he had to have it. Endless sets of china, glassware, silver. Hideous table decorations. Room after room filled with…stuff.
About one-third of the exhibit was devoted to his collection of toys. An almost life-sized robotic case with puppets of Pinocchio and his fairy godmother played the transformation from puppet to child at the touch of a button. Castles, tricycles, more Disney toys, hundreds of life-sized dolls, including Shirley Temple in ringlets and a starched crinoline skirt, curtseying. A huge castle.
And then there were the life-sized mannequins, so realistic that when I bumped into one, I turned to say, “Excuse me.” The mannequins were in a variety of poses, from playing the piano to doing paperwork at a desk. I asked someone what the heck was with the pretend people, and he told me that Michael got so lonesome at Neverland that he had these mannequins placed throughout his mansion so he wouldn’t be there all by himself.
Instead of being funny and a kick in the pants, the exhibit made us profoundly sad. Think of the good that money could do in this world. Think of how Bill and Melissa Gates use their vast fortune. Think of how Bono works to better mankind’s lot in life. And then see how Michael Jackson plundered his own fortune on piles of crap that are just plain creepy.
Money can buy you stuff. Money can allow you to surround yourself with huge portraits of yourself depicted as a king, magician or knight. Money can buy you a big estate filled with toys. Money can buy you companionship. But it can’t buy you love. Or friendship. Or meaning in life.
Go home and hug those you love. And be grateful that you have a life of friendship, love and meaning instead of a castle filled with emptiness and lost opportunity.
Posted by terrymckenzie ( Apr 27 2009, 08:00:00 AM PDT ) Permalink Comments [5]
