It is an amazing time to be alive.  Never before has information been so accessible or so fast.  Airplanes have internet and fuzzy ant television is now a thing of ancient history.  Changes in media culture are happening quicker and quicker.  Take the time between the inventions of radio and television… it was decades.  Now it’s a matter of months before the new gaming system or new iphone comes out.  People not only expect this, but also make their lives revolve around the latest and greatest.  The pressure to keep up with the Jones’ is pretty overwhelming.  Today will be marked in history as one of the largest audiences ever at and watching Michael Jackson’s memorial, I can’t help but think if this had happened 10 years ago, would it be the same?  Celebrity culture has always been an odd and awed phenomena, but with the advent of everything happening so quickly – it has definitely been thrust even more into the spotlight.   Fans on CNN who were hanging out at Neverland called him a “prophet.”  And the outpouring of tributes and grief are like nothing the world has seen.  I’m not even sure if Princess Diana, who likewise had an enormous outpouring of tribute and grief attributed to her death, had the massive amount of attention that I’ve heard from my friends all over the world who are struck by Michael’s impact there.  Sure in Los Angeles, it’s kind of normal, but Haiti? People received tickets to Michael Jackson’s memorial on Sunday and could fly half way around the world to be in Los Angeles by Tuesday morning and they are here.

It’s confusing to know what is public and what is private.  Michael was a private man.  But so many of us do not take his cue. Facebook and twitter allow us to comment on our lives in one-second intervals, which some of my friends do and it’s changing the way we do life.  From picture taking to updates, our lives now revolve around quick public communication – instant access to a home page that is accessible to our friends, networks, and strangers around the world.  We take pictures and declare, “Oh that’s my new profile pic,” as if a picture could define us (even so, we try).  Pictures are great and facebook is an amazing tool, but what parts of ourselves are lost in communication these days that are happening so fast, we might not get them back?  

No longer are we in a world of one career or one home; it’s 6 careers and 4 homes at least in privileged areas of the world. And our models of this?  Gone for the most part are the Michael Jackson legends who were good at one thing – pop star.  After Robin Williams came out as the genie in Disney’s Aladdin, the draw of a celebrity changed the course of animation and so then you could be animated and a star.  Some famous people always had chameleon like qualities that made them good singers and actors, but now not only must you be animated and sing and act, you must have a perfume line, design clothing, write books, be an investor and entrepreneur, and start a foundation.  What’s left for the rest of us? Rather, what example are we setting to be all things to all people – our breadth is growing, but is our depth?  

More importantly than public and private, what is sacred anymore?  If we go on vacation with our family and are communicating everything we did on a blog or on facebook updates, how present are we with our families?  I am struck by the sheer number of mommy bloggers out there who are documenting every burp, poo, and facial expression.  Yes it is so cute to see your kid, but is the kid going to start calling the camera mommy because that’s what is in between the two of you all the time?  As we gather around televisions to lay a star to rest, I truly hope that we can lay him to rest;  that the rumor mills and tv stations can all move on, but I hope for the rest of us that we can start to identify what needs to be private and sacred in our own lives.  What parts of our lives are we spending time deepening – and not just a morning devotion, but life changes that signify that something is different, something is alive inside us.  Even if our websites are deep and rich and offer great insight, I hope that we are cultivating deep and rich and meaningful places in our souls and not just in front of screens.