Man in the Mirror

Wow. Yesterday must have been a crazy day in heaven. I was so saddened by the passing of Farrah Fawcett, but then Michael Jackson! It is being said that, for a large segment of the population, he was the soundtrack of their lives. I think his music, for me, is an underlying motif. When presented with a MJ song, a vivid memory unfolds within my mind of who I was and where I was in my life.

I can remember when the J5 popped onto the music and culture scene.
He was a tiny dude with a powerful voice and presence. No only did change the music of the day, but also the moves. He was fantastic.

Michael has been quoted lately as saying that he wanted to write music to change the world. This morning I watched the Man in the Mirror video. I love its message because it is in accord with my own thinking, the only person I have power to change is myself, and the Gandhian philosophy to which I ascribe, be the change you wish to see in the world. "I see the kids in the street, with not enough to eat, who am I to be blind pretending not to see their needs...You gotta get it right while you've got the time, 'cause when you close your heart then you close your mind...If you wanna make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and then make a change."
The video is a montage of images, beginning with the nuclear test explosion, the Baker test, from Operation Crossroads at the Bikini Atoll in 1946. This was to be a series to nuclear tests to determine the effect of nuclear weapons on naval ships. It was sparked by a statement made in August 1945 by Senator Brien McMahon, "In order to test the destructive powers of the atomic bomb against naval vessels, I would like to see these Japanese naval ships taken to sea and an atomic bomb dropped on them." It was the end of WWII and I am sure there was an emotional valance that helped carry this idea forward.


Brien McMahon was an interesting fellow. Born in Norwalk, CT in 1903, he graduated from Norwalk High School, went to Fordham, and then Yale Law. He practiced law in Norwalk with Keough and Candee, and then became a city judge, but gave it up for a U.S. Senate seat. He authored the Atomic Energy Act of 1946, which became know as the McMahon Act, proposed the idea that later became the Peace Corps., acted as Federal prosecutor during the conspiracy trail between the coal barons of Kentucky and the Harlan County coal miners to enforce the right of labor to form unions, and even ran for the presidency on a platform that proposed seeking world peace and ending atomic weapons. Looks like he came full circle. He had a daughter, Pat McMahon, who would often be referenced in conversation with my family, "Oh you know, Pat McMahon, blah, blah, blah..." His mother Genie was also often mentioned. But I digress.


The video shows pictures of people who did change the world for better; Martin Luther King, John F. Kennedy, Robert R. Kennedy, Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Lech Wolesa, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and for worse; Hitler, Muammar aL-Gaddafi. Images made me recall how I waited with baited breath for baby Jessica McClure to be pulled from the well she had fallen into in Midland, TX. My own daughter was just her age at the time. When she emerged from that hole in the arms of the paramedic, it was seeing more than a little girl saved. It was witnessing the goodness of people, in this case, an ordinary man who suffered from claustrophobia and didn't mention it because he was committed to rescuing a child. Pictures from Farm Aid and Live Aid juxtaposed with those of children of the Ethiopian famine, photos of Jimmy Carter, Menachem Begin and Anwar El Sadat at the Camp David Accord that led to the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty, people who made a difference.
Michael, I want you back, ooh, ooh baby.
There are lots of people who make a difference every day, such as the Itty Bitty Kitty Committee, http://www.ittybittykittycommittee/.

Currently they are involved in a fund raising effort to support The Humane Society. Obviously somebody helped the kitties get the right size and color phone. Kitties helping kitties.
Ciao kitties, ciao friends.