The Birth of a Nation: Notes on the Michael Jackson Memorial Service

Image courtesy of Levar Burton via twitpic.

Just finished watching the Michael Jackson memorial service. I must say that it was most fitting. It hit all the right notes. It was at once both dignified and entertaining. Both sorrowful and inspirational. The memorial more than exceeded my greatest expectations.

And as I watched, I followed the comments and observations of literally hundreds of people via Facebook and TweetDeck. It seems that during those few hours, the entire world was tuned in. Television commentators estimated that one billion viewers watched worldwide. I even read that Al Jezeera was airing the memorial. Several times my Facebook page and TweetDeck froze from the sheer number of responses.

I am reminded of that theoretical axiom which states that nation, community, and family are born and reaffirmed in those spaces created through shared circumstance, ceremony, and spectacle. Of course this restatement is not precise, but I think you get the general message.

But it’s a shame that we must wait for somber occasions like a funeral before we all can come together for one purpose. Not too long ago, I attended my grandmother’s funeral. The church was packed to the point of overflowing. I saw family and friends there that I had not seen in years. And together we held one another and cried even as we celebrated my grandmother’s life. For a brief moment in time, all bad feelings were shoved aside. All internecine feuds were forgotten.

And when it all ended, we embraced and promised that we would not allow that much time to pass before we came together as a family again. But I know that’s a promise that will not be kept. I’ve been through it all before.

Time will pass. The emotion will subside. And the petty bickering and backbiting will resume again. And most of those friends and relatives I will not see again until the next funeral where we will make those same empty promises.

But I still relish those moments in time, those moments of shared circumstance, those ceremonies, those spectacles, even when they are somber, even when we must shed tears, where we can truthfully refer to ourselves as a family, as a community, as a nation, as one world.