“You know, sometimes I feel so guilty when I have dinner or breakfast because I realize how so many people don’t have those simple things that we so much take for granted.  And people, they sit at the table and they pray and all that, which is beautiful, but to do something is the thing, you know, you have to act.  I think it’s important to help out as much as you can.  If one person would just help one child they’ve done so much and if you can do that, it would be beautiful, just to help one person would be a lot…it’s a big step forward because it’s a lot to be done, and children all over the world are in such need.” 

Michael Jackson

I am overcome with the unimaginable intensity Michael Jackson possessed in his heart, his profound commitment to children, to people, to the planet.  And, I realize that this one aspect to a multilayered character of the man drives so many to act for good.  Physically, Michael felt the pain he saw. It caused him to cry before masses of people during performances, and it caused great anguish in private times.  Charity is applauded by us all…giving to alleviate hunger, suffering and pain.  But, Michael Jackson put himself into the situations, physically traveling to be with those who were suffering.  He sat in hospitals and orphanages, in homes and backstage holding those who suffered. Their pain transferred to him.  He took it into his soul.  That fact moves us.  He told us about it in speeches and in interviews.  He was able to put it into amazing lyrics in anthems, all having now become titles for cause.  God bestowed upon Michael an enormous amount of gifts.  The gift of moving masses of people by example, with words, with stunning music, with unparalleled performance empowers those who are Michael-educated to accomplish goals we may never have imagined before.  It is a spiritual journey that brought Michael to us and that journey continues as his life inspires those left behind to act.  His passion has become ours.  His humility and inexhaustible efforts on behalf of humankind create in us a will of iron.  “Help me to help the children.”  Michael Jackson

“It was in a children’s hospital near Cape Town during the South Africa leg of the History Tour in 1997.  On that same day, Michael had also visited an orphanage where many of the kids had lost their parents to HIV/AIDS.  South Africa clearly touched his heart, as it did mine.  During the weeks there, he was even more open and affectionate than usual, had a lot of fun and received a warm welcome everywhere he went.  I saw him both before and after the hospital visit but I didn’t want to intrude by going into the wards with him.  What happened inside, however, summed up why Michael was a soul of the dearest kind.  He was accompanied by his cinematographer, a wonderful, warm and gentle man named Joe Wilcots, who later recounted the following to me.  Michael was being shown through the hospital by doctors and nurses.  They were doing the usual things…greeting children on the wards, giving them presents, spending some time with them.  Then, they walked along a corridor between wards and there was a separate room with one child in it.  Michael asked why the child was alone and what the room was.  The doctors told him it was a quarantine room…that they had to restrict who could go in because the child was seriously ill and they didn’t know what was wrong with him or whether the boy’s illness was contagious.  The doctors carried on walking.  Michael hung back and when they had gone ahead a little, he ducked into the room  All hell broke loose.  The doctors and nurses panicked but none of them wanted to follow Michael into the room unprotected.  Joe told me they watched through the window as Michael sat on the bed with the child, spoke to him and kissed him on the forehead.  Then Michael just calmly came out of the room and of course the doctors didn’t want to scold him…he was Michael Jackson, after all.  But they were clearly anxious.  Afterwards, Joe asked Michael why he had done it…what on earth he had been thinking to take what could have been such a serious risk with his own health.  Michael replied very simply: ‘I wanted to do what the child’s mother would, if she was here.’  He knew no danger would keep a parent from their child.  No risk would stop a mother reaching her child and making sure he knew he was loved.  This has always epitomized, to me, Michael’s relationship with children.  He seemed to feel a parent’s love and a parent’s responsibility to every child in the world.  It is so hard for the rest of us to imagine the scale of such love, such worry, such pain.  Most new parents are overwhelmed by the emotions they feel for a single child.  Who can possibly cope with that intensity multiplied by hundreds of millions.”  Maria Crawford  UK A LIFE FOR LOVEhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OAVMpm5oLA

The power to move masses of people for good comes from a man who felt the pains of the world so deeply and felt a profound responsibility to make change…to love unconditionally.  For many, this is an unimaginable intensity.  For those who know Michael, our love makes it all clear.  Michael’s life gives us the blueprint for healing the world.  It is a blueprint that he tested every day of his life.  Michael’s vision and application of this blueprint is the real deal…and, WE ARE HERE TO PAY IT FORWARD.

I love you!

Jude

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