Michael Jackson - The rich death of a poor guy

The King of Pop is no more in this world to thrill the people with his moon walk. Michael Jackson would remain a phenomena for a long time to come, not just because of his performances on stage but because of his off stage activities also. He is a typical case of those people who rose to stardom in a quick pace and quicker than than get themselves into trouble. We already have many living examples all around us. Celebrities who could not handle their success in a wisely manner.

I think the answer to this question lies in differentiating between two attributes which are popularity and wisdom or intelligence, and they have no relation to each other. The presence of one does not guarantees the existence of other. We assume that popular people are intelligent and wise people, but
this is far from truth. Most of us understand popularity but rarely we do appreciate the existence of wisdom. Popularity is thrilling and quickly visible. Wisdom is subtle and shows in long term. If we put a analogy in terms of economy, than popularity is revenue and wisdom is controlling your expenses. Popularity is blitzing marketing and wisdom is hard fought battle in terms of operating efficiency and effectiveness. In the long term, it's wisdom which decides the quantity and quality of popularity, which in terms of quantity and quality of revenue. It's easy to become popular. You can become popular by jumping over Eiffel tower but is there an element of wisdom in it. In reality shows, now a days we see many artist becoming popular overnight but how many of them are able to sustain it. In the longer term, one see that it's the wisdom which carries them forward. In fact, many times one sees the looser in these reality shows faring much better than the winners. And together Popularity and Wisdom defined the success.

We all understand popularity but very few appreciate the wisdom. So let's understand what are the important elements of wisdom which each one of us should try to inculcate, no matter we are popular or not.

• Financial wisdom : This is one thing which hurt most of the people in our society. Living beyond our means and then getting trapped into a vicious circle of debt is very common phenomena in our neighborhood. One should understand your inflow and outflow even if you do not understand the complex jargons of finances. No need even to understand. Just understand your inflow and outflow and always try to maximize your inflow and minimize your outflow. It does not means live like a pauper but it also does not means that keep spending like you have infinite money. Our society still lacks in teaching the financial wisdom as part of school curriculum. I think this is even more important than Science. With right financial wisdom, even the gap of rich and poor will be narrowed. The super rich and super poor are the result of financial wisdom or lack of it.

• Strong Value System : Quick money and popularity brings more opportunistic people near you and they tend to corrupt. Most of the falls of celebrities can be attributed to this phenomena. As they get success, opportunism starts building around them. The celebrities are given the perception that they are super human and can change anything in the world, which builds unnecessary expectations in them. This leads to tension and eventual trapping into drugs. This further leads to unstable thought process and results in activities which are unwarranted. Once trapped in this circle it becomes difficult to get out, as the people around you, most of them, will not let it happen. A philosopher or guide, who has little interest in your material success should be able to guide but please listen to them. It can be parents or friend who one thinks were wise people, even before the popularity came. Most of the success people with durability are those who are humble, down to earth and understand their limitations as a human.

Taking care of above points would help in building a durable success and we could have seen MJ for longer.