Being designated as “the greatest” is an aspiration for anyone who has breathed beyond the age of formation: Those who in history who get designated as such is because of who they become, not because that’s what they aspired to be. There are exceptions.
One that is not is Michael Jackson, who Wikipedia describes an American singer, songwriter and dancer dubbed the "King of Pop" and regarded as one of the most significant cultural icons of the 20th Century. He’s also regarded as one of the greatest entertainers of all time, and his contributions to music, dance, and fashion, along with his publicised personal life, made him a global figure in popular culture for over four decades.
Posthumously, we — and generations to come — will remember him for many things, some good, others not as good. On balance, mostly good.
As a member of the “Jackson 5,” even he, let alone the then five boy’s father, did not know he was destined to the history books as one of the “greatest” in not only music but in other aspects, even long after his death.
The Jackson Five signature song ABC , which is most credited to having Michael distinguish himself from the rest of his brothers from that early age (the moonwalk would do it), is epic by itself.
And there would be many to follow for the decades the young man mesmerised the world to his death.
One of them, is Man on the Mirror, which the lyrics follow that one should either discover for the first time what the message is, or re-think and reassess as to its import, or more specifically, what they can do about it:
I'm gonna make a change,
For once I'm my life
It's gonna feel real good,
Gonna make a difference
Gonna make it right
As I, turn up the collar on
My favorite winter coat
This wind is blowing my mind
I see the kids in the streets,
With not enough to eat
Who am I to be blind?
Pretending not to see their needs
A summer disregard, a broken bottle top
And a one man soul
They follow each other on the wind ya' know
'Cause they got nowhere to go
That's why I want you to know
I'm starting with the man in the mirror
I'm asking him to change his ways
And no message could have been any clearer
If you want to make the world a better place
(If you want to make the world a better place)
Take a look at yourself, and then make a change.
Question is, what change?
That can go bottom up, or top bottom.
Given the stratification of society, “yourself” here as to be those most entrusted to take care of the welfare of society for which they have the most noble duty to provide but they don’t.
If they do, then, the rest of society should benefit from their nobility.
If they don’t, then the advice for men all over is as what Samuel Crocket put it, “To every man his little cross. Till he dies. And he’s forgotten.”
Those who’ll been forgotten, it doesn’t or wouldn’t matter.
Those who have not been forgotten or wouldn’t want to, there’s still an opportunity:
If you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself, and then make a change more than you have, if you think you have.
Samuel Omwenga is a legal analyst and political commentator in the United States