Farrah and Michael

In one day, two major pop culture stars died. They were famous for very different reasons, they lived very different lives and yet there were very sad similarities between them.

First was Farrah. She was literally one of the most beautiful women in the world. One picture of her will stand forever in our minds when we think of her. She did not go the way of other overnight sensations, she walked away from a wildly popular show after one season to pursue projects that made her grow as an actress. In her career she seemed to have to fight the very beauty that brought her fame. She died battling a horrible cancer and her story truly was heartbreaking. She appeared to be a person who loved everyone around her and she had a great deal of courage. But also heartbreaking about the lovely Farrah's life, were the horrors of plastic surgery that took that beautiful face of hers and made her look so artificial. She would have been just as beautiful with age had she not had surgery.

There is a beauty in aging that we try desperately to fight under a scalpel or needle. Why? Why is it necessary to do this? Why are 20 year old starlets using Botox and having face lifts? Why?
What is Hollywood putting out there, what are we as a culture embracing as truth that makes someone of the greatest beauty destroy their face? The irony of this is incredible and simply tragic.

Then there is Michael, a gifted child, a prodigy, musically and physically, he could dance as if in the air instead of on the floor. Troubled and reportedly severely abused as a child, we watched another beautiful young man become marred by plastic surgery that left him not even looking human. Whoever did these things to him; whoever performed these surgeries, should be deeply ashamed. If Michael lacked the judgment or mental capabilities to make good decisions or not, a good surgeon should have said no and not performed these extreme operations. With Michael, not only was his face destroyed, but inside he seemed to be a very troubled soul. It almost appeared that he believed the things he said, that he only had two surgeries and his other claims. He seemed like a perpetual child, living in Neverland. He never lived a typical life, never had a normal childhood. How sad to see what happened to someone with such promise and such amazing gifts. He was literally consumed by the world around him.

Now they both are gone. Lessons to be learned from both of them. Both gone in the same day. I pray for them and for their families. But I hope that someday this obsession with the artificial and the superficial will end.