Michael Jackson – A Childhood Lost
June 27, 2009
The television is filled with talk about the life of Michael Jackson, about his star power, his impact on the music industry, his financial problems, his children and all of the minutiae of his life. Continuous talk of the accusations against him for child abuse abound, and people are coming out of the woodwork to render yet one more mindless observation.
The truth is Michael Jackson was a damaged human being, and now with his death the attacks against him not only continue, but are ugly. I am sure by now you are hearing the cruel jokes about Michael and his past, raw, uncouth, unkind and simply nasty.
And what, if anything, did this poor man do to deserve this treatment? Many forget that after nearly 15 years of litigation, dragging his reputation and name through the courts, bankrupting him and forcing him to divest himself of his prized “Neverland Ranch” where he entertained children with all kinds of disease, and treated them with respect and kindness, he was left penniless and broken.
Which brings me to the point of this post.
As child photographers, and yes even as parents, we need to respect children, honor their privacy and space, and keep them safe. If you post their photos on the internet, be sure to not disclose where they live, their names or anything that can identify them to predators. If you enter them in a cute kid contest to win a scholarship that is O.K., but don’t promote their careers. Be careful and watch over them, protect them and make sure you keep them safe at all times.
I wish we could say that Michael Jackson’s parents did that for him, but it is clear we can’t. Putting him out in the limelight from the age of 5, monetizing him and robbing him of his childhood no doubt had a profound effect on his life as an adult.
As parents and child photographers we should be sad at the passing of this poor man, and use the tragic lesson of his life to remind us to take care of our own precious little ones.
Betty, Child Photographer
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