Twinkle twinkle little star.

The death of Michael Jackson is sad not because he died way to young, but because it is so blatantly obvious that this man became a victim of the greed of others. No child should ever loose the experience of their childhood at the alter of their ambitious parents dreams. Such a child will grow without the process of knowing themselves within the comparatives of learning from their own peers, and will be deprived of a reality that offers them the insight as to how to shape their emotional selves. Michael Jackson stands testimony to this and his death a wake up call to us.

Abnormalities that are not genetic or birth defects or incurred from illness or accident, occur as a result of the environment in which a child receives nurturing; and if the formative rearing does not allow for development to happen in the sequence and order that is commonly expected, a child's personality can be severely hampered. Fear and repression are sad substitutes for encouragement and motivation. Money and fame can only be handled sensibly if it is seen as a justifying and rewarding return on the investment of ones time and energy. For Michael Jackson his millions were never a compensation for what he believed he had lost, and he was intelligent and aware that he could never reclaim this precious experience in spite of the elaborate constructs to achieve a replica of this imagined passage of time, because the clock could never be turned back for him unfortunately.

The concept of a child star frightens me, and how foolish are those ridiculous parents who pretend that they are able to protect their children from the scars of such exploitation. As an artist I have always refused to be a judge for any children's art competition. I abhor that such an activity can be viewed to instigate the presumption of rating children's art and making a child feel that since their creative expression was unworthy of accolade and praise, is therefore inferior in some way!

There are many budding Michael Jacksons out there, both girls and boys. I hope parents are listening and understanding that success is not necessarily via the super stardom of tinsel dreams and fat bank accounts, but from your children being well adjusted adults who can define their responsibilities and function with an understanding of their reality. Their confidence and the happiness of their childhood memories is wealth enough, and should be something we all as parents need to realise.