Watching the Documentary: “Leaving Neverland” on HBO, reopens some countrywide wounds and increases some divides in America and worldwide. And watching the Oprah interview with the alleged victims and the film’s director immediately after lead to more questions and more answers.
If this was nothing more than a cash grab by the alleged victims, wouldn’t they be miles ahead to come out as combined adults to reconfirm that nothing inappropriate ever happened the countless hours and days and more spent alone with Michael Jackson in his bedroom? They would be able to trade in death threats for a lifetime contract doing something for the estate of Michael Jackson. The financial upside absolutely lies with siding with the Jackson accounts.
Would modern day parents, currently screaming their uncompromising belief on social that the alleged victims are lying, let their 8 year old son spend numerous nights alone in a bedroom with an adult? In 2019 it just seems very hard to imagine allowing even the most well-meaning pop icon to just spend nights alone in a bedroom with your pre-teen.
And why Oprah with the immediate follow-up interview knowing she was going to get crushed? The easy answer is that Oprah is one of the most famous people to discuss the alleged abuse she suffered growing up and her own personal journey to healing. The deeper answer would center around her own personal attachment to alleged Hollywood sexual predator Harvey Weinstein and was this some form of atonement for past sins.
There will be no “I Believe” statements because far too many people toss around the word believe and the it has become far more equated with “this is the side I’m on”. I am on no side and at no point was I ever in a position to know enough about it to even be afforded an opinion. But I certainly can have an opinion on what I saw the past few nights.
I saw the first hand account of the mothers involved because that, above all else, was the hardest to wrap my head around. I heard what they said, I still don’t believe my 8 year old would have been in an adult’s bedroom alone, but I hear them express how it allegedly happened to them. I saw a room full of folks carrying around some heavy hurt that were nodding their heads all night and any help that the evening was for them has to be considered some type of victory. And I saw that either Wade and James are both incredible actors, or Wade is much further along in his healing than James. James was the picture of “hurt”.
If anything is to be gained, other than the healing of the alleged victims, it must be that this is all still larger than the people involved including the “larger than life”. Wade’s statement of “forgiveness is not a line you cross, it is a path you take” transcends the details of this particular circumstance and also transcends the subject of sexual abuse. It is 2019 and the gloves are off!! Every subject has a side and every encounter has accompanying video surveillance. The world is populated with nothing but flawed individuals..different levels and degrees of darkness, but collectively flawed none the less. The “Golden Rule” and the “Casting of the First Stone” and the act of true “Forgiveness” are all pretty biblical but there is plenty of truth to be found there.