On Children and Our Inner Child
"In my family we love children. If a baby or a child comes in, we all want to hug the child or pick him up. That’s how my brothers and sisters are. I can’t understand why people don’t honor children, why they push them aside like they are nothing. That’s what tomorrow becomes.”
Michael Jackson
"By loving children I am able to see God. I see God through children. If it wasn´t for children I would not understand who God is, who He is, no matter what the Bible says, even though I love the Bible. But children are proof. You can write and talk all you want, but I see it. Man, do I see it.
Children - this is my opinion - represent the purest, the quintessence of honesty, of love, of God. To me they are the God´s way of saying there is hope, there is such a thing as humanity. Be like children, be humble like them, be sweet, be innocent. It shows in the eyes, I always see it in the eyes. When you look in a child´s eyes you see just a pure innocence and it reminds me to be humble, to be sweet and to be really good.
I don´t mean to sound weird, but I really believe that children are God. I think that they are the purest form of the creation of God. When a child steps into a room I am totally changed. I feel their energy, their presence, and their spirit. I think we have to remember it is so easy for adults and parents to push them aside and not to pay attention to them. But I think they have so much to say and we don´t listen, we don´t feel. It´s almost hard to put it into words."
(...)
"They are going to find some amazing things about children not only this century, this decade, they really are. Stuff, that was there all along, amazing thing about the mind of children and how incredibly amazing they are. Godlike. I really believe that. People are going to open the door to a lot of brilliance... the outlook on children is going to change. I have never talked down to Prince and Paris. I never do because they are amazing. You can´t, they are much smarter than we think. The baby-talk thing is going to go away. You won´t do the "gooo gooo ga ga." They are so smart, they understand as intellectuals everything we say. They are much brighter than anyone could ever imagine. They are in alpha state. They understand the subconscious. We don´t understand. We are the ones that really don´t understand who they are."
Question: "They are born with some kind of knowledge?"
"A lot of knowledge. I think they know a lot that we haven´t come yet to understand. They are the universe. They really are. Most people don´t get it."
Question: "Do you think that you were born with a special sensitivity to children?"
"I can´t say how I was when I was a toddler, but my mother always told me that children always came knocking on the door asking, could they see Michael? Could they play with me? This is when I was really little. No fame just a little bitty kid of two or three. I didn´t wark of it. I just care about other people putting children aside all the time. They don´t care about them and say, ´Sit down,´ and ´Shut up.´ I know what they are feeling. God forbid, when they are sick it´s even worse. They are the sunshine of the world. It´s hard to put it into words... it is so special to me."
(...)
Michael Jackson in conversations with Rabbi Schmuley Boteach in the book Honoring the Child Spirit
"People wonder why I always have children around. It's because I find the thing that I never had through them. Disneyland, amusement parks, arcade games — I adore all that stuff because when I was little, it was always work, work, work."
Michael Jackson, interview with Oprah Winfrey, 1993
"Michael started so young, he started to sing with the brothers, five or six years old, you know back in Gary Indiana. His first record it was I'm a big boy now, you know back in 1967 I think, something like that. And we've always felt that Michael was just a different type of person with talent and he spent most of his childhood perfecting his talent. He never got a chance to own the bicycle, ride a bike, or play Little League or Tag or whatever kids do, you know. He was just a music man music man music man and he used to tread…
When he got a little older he said ´I don't want to ever see a kid to come up the way I did because I missed out,´ you know. ´I wish I had this, I wish I was able to play with kids´ and all these other things which he didn't have the opportunity. And so we used to have family day, we'd come over with our kids or whatever and the brothers be in a corner, you know, talking about our future, talking about, you know, when we were going to get back in the studio, go on the road or what have you and we get mad at Michael ´cause he was too busy swimming and having fun with our little children and stuff but he was just having fun. He was, I guess, he was experiencing what he had missed out on it and he had done this his whole entire life up to where he was. That's why he's into like Mickey Mouse and all these things, Captain Crunch, and you know, he was the world's biggest kid and he wanted to live his life in a way that he helped people, help children have a happier life. And people don't understand that how can somebody do this or do that but people don't know my brother's has paid for cancer victims, college - giving kids college funds and helped family in need, he was just one of those people that give his life up, man. He'll give you every every penny in his account if he felt sorry enough for you, yeah and that's who Michael Jackson was."
Tito Jackson on "Sway´s Universe" 9/2019 youtu.be/TuMjo6nwcDY
Pillow fights - as a kid with brothers and years later as an adult:
"'There were times when I had great times with my brothers, pillow fights and things, but I was, used to always cry from loneliness."
"Well, especially now I come to realize - and then - I would do my schooling which was three hours with a tutor and right after that I would go to the recording studio and record, and I'd record for hours and hours until it's time to go to sleep."
"Well, you don't get to do things that other children get to do, having friends and slumber parties and buddies. There were none of that for me. I didn't have friends when I was little. My brothers were my friends."
"I remember one time we were getting ready to go to South America and everything was packed up and in the car ready to go and I hid and I was crying because I really did not want to go, I wanted to play. I did not want to go."
"I remember going to the record studio and there was a park across the street and I'd see all the children playing and I would cry because it would make me sad that I would have to work instead."
Michael Jackson
"When I was little I grew up in an adult world. I grew up on stage. I grew up in night clubs. When I was seven, eight years old I was in nightclubs. I saw striptease girls take off all their clothes. I saw fights break out. I saw people throw up on each other. I saw adults act like pigs. That's why to this day I hate clubs. I don't like going to clubs - I did that already, I've been there. That's why I compensate now for what I didn't do then. So when you come to my house, 
you'll see I have rides, I have a movie theatre, I have animals. I love animals - elephants and giraffes and lions and tigers and bears, all kinds of snakes. I get to do all those wonderful things that I didn't get to do when I was little, because we didn't have those things. We didn't have Christmas. We didn't have sleepovers. We didn't have school, we had private school when we were touring. I didn't go to a state school. We tried it for two weeks and it didn't work. It was very difficult. It's hard growing up a celebrity child. Very few make that transition from child star to adult star. It's very difficult. I relate to Shirley Temple. I met her in San Francisco and I sat at her table and I cried so bad. She said, 'What's wrong Michael?' I said, 'I love you. I need to be around you more.' She goes, 'You're one of us, aren't you?' and I said 'Yes, I am.' Somebody else said, 'What do you mean?' and she said, 'Michael knows what I mean.' And I know exactly what she meant - to have been there as a child star and to have graduated to have succeeded in making that transition to fame as an adult is very difficult. When you're a child star people don't want you to grow up. They want you to stay little forever. They don't want you to work afterwards. It's very hard."
Michael Jackson in Gold Magazine interview, 2002
"I don´t like clubs now, I did all that when I was eleven, eight and going back - nine, eight, seven, six. Fights break out, people throwing up, yelling, screaming, the police sirens. Our father never let us become a part of it other than to perform and leave. But sometimes in having to do that you would get caught up in some of the craziness. I saw it all."
Michael Jackson in MJ Tapes
"Well, you don't get to do things that other children get to do, having friends and slumber parties and buddies. There were none of that for me. I didn't have friends when I was little. My brothers were my friends."
Michael Jackson
"I just wanted to have fun. I didn't know what it was like to have a buddy over or to have a sleepover or my birthday."
Michael Jackson, from the Martin Bashir documentary outtakes
"But, if you really want to know about me, there is a song I wrote which is the most honest song I've ever written. It is the most autobiographical song I've ever written. It's called Childhood."
Michael Jackson
Michael´s song Childhood with lyrics:
"He just freaked out that he missed his childhood and he really related to the innocence of childhood.
You know, we talked about how we´re born an empty slate pretty much and as we grow older we´re taught various things and we tend to start to close off because of the things we´re taught.
As children we´re open book of sensory overload and we´re exposed to everything. And then as we get older and develop as human beings, the blinders come on and by the time we´re adults that innocent childhood is totally lost.
We´re acting in a way we think we´re supposed to act because that´s what society tells us as opposed to children who will say and do anything. So you know, he was always fascinated by that and upset by how we change as adults."
Neil Ratner
"When I was a kid, I was denied not only a childhood, but I was denied love. When I reached out to hug my father, he didn't hug me back. When I was scared on an airplane, he didn't put his arm around me and say, ´Michael, don't worry. It's going to be OK.´ When I was scared to go on stage, he said, ´get your ass on that stage.´ … I will never deny a child love. If it means that I have to be crucified or put in jail for it, then that's just what they're going to have to do.
Michael Jackson in remark to producer Cory Rooney, as repeated to Chris Yandek (https://thesportsinterview.com/mjackson.html)
Michael Jackson with bunch of children in Disneyworld in Paris, 1996:
From Michael Jackson Interview with The Mirror 1999 by Piers Morgan:
Yet for years he has said nothing, refusing to go public and reveal himself to the world's media on the record about the issue that has dogged his life. Now he has. With tears streaming down his face, Jackson told me of the terrible pain and hurt he has felt at what he calls "wicked lies and rumors."'
Sitting next to his friend Mohamed Al Fayed at the tycoon's Harrods store in London, Jackson wept uncontrollably as he poured out his anguish about the "evil people who think I could do this thing to children."'
His frankness shocked me. This was not a glib, girlish monosyllabic character hiding behind the famous mask and make-up. This was an intelligent, articulate and mature man. And a man who very clearly bears the emotional scars of a terrible humiliation based on alleged crimes he says he could never commit.
Having spoken to him for 40 minutes yesterday, I would say he loves children in a way that few ordinary people can ever match or understand. He puts it simply but devastatingly - "If it wasn't for the children...I'd throw in the towel and I'd kill myself."
The tears start to flow as he explains: "I wouldn't care to live without children and without the inspiration they give me. They inspire me in all I do, every song I write, every dance I perform. People try and use that against me and it's just so unfair. I get very upset by it, it breaks my heart."
His joy at fatherhood is tempered by the knowledge that it hasn't stopped the sneering, the rumors, the nudge-nudge, wink-wink brigade. He says: "I love my children so much. They have changed me and my outlook on life.
"I just wish people would leave me alone to get on with my life. I'm just a person who wants to be honest and do good, make people happy and give them the greatest sense of escapism through the talent God has given me.
"That's where my heart is, that's all I want to do. Just let me share and give, put a smile on people's faces and make their hearts feel happy. To see my kids leaping round the room going mad to my sister Janet's music is just fantastic. It fills my heart with so much joy.“
"Look at the true spirit of happiness and joy in these boys faces, this is the spirit of boyhood. A life I never had and will always dream of."
Words written by Michael in one of his books about children (also used at the court)
"When people see the television appearances I made when I was a little boy — 8 or 9 years old and just starting off my lifelong music career — they see a little boy with a big smile. They assume that this little boy is smiling because he is joyous, that he is singing his heart out because he is happy, and that he is dancing with an energy that never quits because he is carefree.
But while singing and dancing were, and undoubtedly remain, some of my greatest joys, at that time what I wanted more than anything else were the two things that make childhood the most wondrous years of life, namely, playtime and a feeling of freedom. The public at large has yet to really understand the pressures of childhood celebrity, which, while exciting, always exacts a very heavy price.
More than anything, I wished to be a normal little boy. I wanted to build tree houses and go to roller-skating parties. But very early on, this became impossible. I had to accept that my childhood would be different than most others. But that’s what always made me wonder what an ordinary childhood would be like."
Michael Jackson in his reflection "My Childhood, My Sabbath, My Freedom," December 2000
"My childhood was completely taken away from me. There was no Christmas, there were no birthdays, it was not a normal childhood, nor the normal pleasures of childhood — those were exchanged for hard work, struggle and pain and eventually material and professional success. But as an awful price, I cannot re-create that part of my life.
However, today, when I create my music, I feel like an instrument of nature. I wonder what delight nature must feel when we open our hearts and express our God-given talents. The sound… of approval rolls across the universe, and the whole world abounds in magic. Wonder fills our hearts, for what we have glimpsed, for an instant, the playfulness of life.
And that’s why I love children and learn so much from being around them. I realise that many of our world’s problems today — from the inner city crime, to large scale wars and terrorism, and our overcrowded prisons — are a result of the fact that children have had their childhood stolen from them. The magic, the wonder, the mystery, and the innocence of a child’s heart, are the seeds of creativity that will heal the world. I really believe that.
What… what we need to learn, what we need to learn from children isn’t childish. Being with them connects us to the deeper wisdom of life which is everpresent, and only asks to be lived. They know the solutions that lie waiting to be recognised within our own hearts. Today, I would like to thank all the children of the world, including the sick and deprived… I am so sensitive to your pain."
Michael Jackson´s speech on Grammy Awards, 1993
"I feel so sad when I see the pictures of those poor kids. It makes me cry every day. I just want to go over there and hug every one of them."
Michael Jackson in The Mirror Interview, 1999
"I never had a childhood. When they’re (children) in pain, I feel their pain. And when they’re in despair, I feel their despair. I have such concern about the plight and the state of our children today. If there was one day where kids could get with parents and bond, this would make such a difference...."
Michael Jackson, online audio chat, October 26th 2001
“Children are constantly encouraged to grow up faster, as if this period know as childhood is a burdensome stage to be endured and ushered through as swiftly as possible. Ours is a generation that has witnessed the abrogation of the parent/child covenant. Psychologists are publishing libraries of books detailing the destructive affects of denying one’s children the unconditional love that is so necessary to the healthy development of their minds and character, and because of all the neglect, too many of our kids have to essentially raise themselves. They are growing up distant from their parents and grandparents and other family members as all around us the indestructible bond that once glued together the generations, unravels.”
Michael Jackson
"I have had so many parents come to me, because when their kids see me, they fall in love with me. They go nuts. They wanna play and climb trees and I do all that with them. They take me aside with tears in their eyes and go, ´Michael, I don´t know my childen. You have taught me to really spent time with my children. I need to learn that.´ They tell me that all the time."
Michael Jackson in conversation with rabbi Shmuey Boteach
“I believe children bully for attention. I think you could trace every evil in adults to when they were growing up. We have to be so careful and love and be loving all the time. Know how you are hurting them later on in every little incident. I read children’s eyes and find out who is hurting the most and give them the longest hugs…I pick the fattest or the most grotesque-looking, and people would say, ‘Why did you pick that one?’ and I would say, ‘This is the one who needed it the most.’”
Michael Jackson
"I'm trying to imitate Jesus in the fact that he said to be like children, to love children, to be as pure as children and to make yourself as innocent and to see the world through eyes of wonderment and the whole magical quality of it all."
Michael Jackson, Oprah Winfrey interview 1993
"He knew the child within and he never wanted to lose that. That was part of the magic."
Harrison Funk, Michael´s photographer
"Like the Bible says. A child should be leader of them all, and to be led by that kind of innocence. Didn't Jesus say 'bring on the children?' Be like the children. Not childish, but child-like. That kind of innocence."
Michael Jackson in the Martin Bashir outtakes
Question: Do you think children can teach us love?
Michael Jackson: Yeah, in a different way because they are so affectionate. They can teach us affection and it is quintessential affenction and it is pure innocence. That´s why I love them so much. I was telling Frank the other day "Frank, I am in love with innocence, that´s what I´m in love with. That´s why I love children so much." Innocence is God. To be that innocent and approach things with such a sweet outlook on life with truly just sweet... Where a kid will walk around the house and you´ll go "What are you doing?" And they answer "I don´t know, playing." It´s so sweet. I love that. That´s why (in) the painting (on a wall in Michael´s house is a picture showing hunderts of children playing in Neverland)...one kid is screaming in the wind because he is feeling so good. He is just screaming to be screaming. I love that.
From conversations with Rabbi Schmuley Botteach
“One of my favourite pastimes is being with children – talking to them , playing with them, wattlin´ in the grass. They´re one of the main reasons why I do what I do. Children are more than adults. They know everything that people are trying to find out – they know so many secrets – but it´s hard for them to get it out. I can recognize that and learn from it. They (the children) say some things that´ll astound you. They go through brilliant, genius stages, but when they become a certain age, they lose it. So many people think certain things are childlike, but grown-ups are really nothing but children who have lost all that real magic by not noticing and digging and finding out. I believe in that deeply.”
“It’s mostly little things that excite him or stir his emotions. Childlike things. He loves children a lot. He’s been friends with my daughters for years. When he comes to my house, they think they’re doing me a big favor by lending him to me so he can rehearse, because they think he’s their friend. He’s just got a very pure type of enthusiasm about simple things.” (...) "He was so wonderful. He was a big kid. He really was that. It wasn’t — he was so innocent and just a big kid. And to me, at that age, he just was like me but taller and very much more talented."
From interviews with Kidada and Rashida Jones, daughters of Quincy Jones
"What´s fascinating me about you is that obviously you have this child-like aura about you, and I see children playing with you like you are one of them."
Oprah Winfrey on MJ during their interview as Michael was showing her his home in 1993
"The innocence of children represents to me the source of infinite creativity. That is the potential of every human being. But by the time you are an adult, you're conditioned; you're so conditioned by the things about you--and it goes."
Michael Jackson, Ebony/Jet interview, 2002
“I think what they get from me I get from them … My greatest inspiration comes from kids. Each song, every dance I do, all the poetry I write. It’s all inspired from this level of innocence, that consciousness of purity. And children have that. I see God in the face of children.”
Michael Jackson, Living with Michael Jackson, 2003
“Yet there is a deep truth in innocence. A baby looks in his mother’s eyes, and all he sees is love. As innocence fades away, more complicated things take its place.”
Michael Jackson in his book Dancing the Dream
I’m crazy about them. It is the innocence they have; they are the way I wish the world really was, because they are not phoney and they don’t know prejudice. Prejudice is taught. If the world were full of only children, it would be a much better place...... I’ve always been totally crazy about children. I feel that they are more than just children; that they are all little geniuses and that they have a secret all of their own. A secret that they cannot always express....I studied child psychology because of my love for children – all over the world.....If a kid doesn’t like you, he’ll tell you. But adults pretend and put on phoney ways. I wish the world could be full of children!"
Michael Jackson in a 1979 "Blues and Soul" Magazine interview
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Child of Innocence
“Child of innocence, I miss your sunny days …
Child of innocence, return to me now …
Child of innocence … Come fly with me far and above
Over the mountains in the land of love …
Child of innocence, messenger of joy,
You’ve touched my heart …
My soul is ablaze with a flagrant fire
To change this world is my deepest desire.”
Michael Jackson in his book "Dancing the Dream"
"When children see Michael Jackson they see a human being. When adults see him they see money."
Phil Collins
“Love. Children are loving, they don´t gossip, they don´t complain, they´re just open-hearted. They´re ready for you. They don´t judge. They don´t see things by way of color. They´re very child-like. Thats the problem with adults: they lose that child-like quality. And thats the level of inspiration that´s so needed and is so important for creating and writing songs and for a sculptor, a poet or a novelist. It´s that same kind of innocence, that same level of consciousness, that you create from. And kids have it. I feel it right away from animals and children and nature. Of course.”
Michael Jackson, Ebony/Jet 2002 interview
"It all begins with forgiveness, because to heal the world, we first have to heal ourselves. And to heal the kids, we first have to heal the child within, each and every one of us.”
Michael Jackson - March 6, 2001, A portion of the Oxford University Speech
n very erson there is a secret song in their heart. It says: ‘I am free!’, it sings: ‘I am One!’.
This is the natural feeling of every child. To be free as the wind, to be one with every other child. All the troubles in the world are caused by forgetting this feeling."
Michael Jackson´s speech on NAACP Image Award, 1993
"In their innocence, very young children know themselves to be light and love. If we will allow them, they can teach us to see ourselves the same way.”
Michael Jackson
"Michael's message was simple. He knew that by loving the children, the whole world could be reached through their innocent hearts. It was very important to Michael that we should always remember to love the children. Through their hearts, there are endless possibilities to bring forth love and peace to this ever changing world."
Heather Nutt
Michael proposed hosting a peace conference, chaired by him, with the boy's parents to sort it out. This was no idle promise, either.
For a week, Michael phoned Shmuley and Mushki daily demanding to know how arrangements for the summit were going. When the day of the meeting came, Michael discovered it clashed with the photographic session for his new CD cover.
So rather than change the date, he began the session at 5am to get it over with. In the event, ironically, the boy and his family failed to turn up.
Jonathan Margolis
"Kids go, ´Oh my God, it´s Michael Jackson.´ And I go, ´Hi.´ An adult will smile and go, ´Hi.´ Then, judging it a little bit, they go, ´I like your stuff´, but they won´t let it all come out. (They won´t let themselves appear immpressed.) (...) They are having a psychological walfare going on, how to approach me, what to say, what not to say. Just be yourself, be like a child. Be innocent. Be the way you were when you were born.
(...) You can put the message out there. We will change a lot of people (to be more childlike). We will literally and mentally baptize them with our words and our books, whatever we are doing. But there are so many out there who have shut the door mentally and they don´t want to be changed and they refuse to see the light. But we could help a lot of people, a lot of them are just very, very hard. They have been so conditioned. But I believe you can change a lot of people. That´s what´s so wonderful about it all. You can show them. There are grown-ups who come to Neverland and they say to me:
´You know, I haven´t done the thing I have done here in years... you can let your guard down and be a child again.´ I say: ´That´s what Neverland is for. To return to your innocence. To have fun.´
Michael Jackson in conversations with Rabbi Schmuley Botteach
Children of the World
"We have to heal our wounded world. The chaos, despair, and senseless destruction we see today are a result of the alienation that people feel from each other and their environment. Often this alienation has its roots in an emotionally deprived childhood. Children have had their childhood stolen from them. A child's mind needs the nourishment of mystery, magic, wonder and excitement. I want my work to help people rediscover the child that's hiding in them."
Michael Jackson in his book "Dancing the Dream"
"The more we cultivate little adults in kids´ bodies, the more removed we ourselves become from our own childlike qualities, and there is os much about being a child that is worth retaining in adult life."
Michael Jackson
Magical Child, Part 1
"Once there was a child and he was free
Deep inside he felt the laughter
The mirth and play of nature’s glee
He was not troubled by thoughts of hereafter
Beauty, love was all he’d see
He knew his power was the power of God
He was so sure, they considered him odd
This power of innocence, of compassion, of light
Threatened the priests and created a fright
In endless ways they sought to dismantle
This mysterious force which they could not handle
In endless ways they tried to destroy
His simple trust, his boundless joy
His invincible armor was a shield of bliss
Nothing could touch it, no venom, no hiss
The child remained in a state of grace
He wasn’t confined in time or place
In Technicolor dreams, he frolicked and played
While acting his part, in Eternity he stayed
Soothsayers came and fortunes were told
Some were vehement, others were bold
In denouncing this child, this perplexing creature
With the rest of the world he shared no feature
Is he real? He is so strange
His unpredictable nature knows no range
He puzzles us so, is he straight?
What’s his destiny? What’s his fate?
And while they whispered and conspired
Through endless rumors to get him tired
To kill his wonder, trample him near
Burn his courage, fuel his fear
The child remained just simple, sincere
All he wanted was the mountain high
Color the clouds, paint the sky
Beyond these boundaries, he wanted to fly
In nature’s scheme, never to die
Don’t stop this child, he’s the father of man
Don’t cross his way, he’s part of the plan
I am that child, but so are you
You’ve just forgotten, just lost the clue
Inside your heart sits a Seer
Between his thoughts, he can hear
A melody simple but wondrously clear
The music of life, so precious, so dear
This spark of creation, this exquisite glow
You would come and dance with me
Kindle this fire so we could see
All the children of the Earth
Weave their magic and give new birth
To a world of freedom with no pain
A world of joy, much more sane
Deep inside, you know it’s true
Just find that child, it’s hiding in you."
Michael Jackson in his book Dancing The Dream
"Children come with the quintessence of bliss. You feel it in their smile and the light in eyes. When they come into the room, you can feel them beaming. I can feel that. I could scream. Before every concert they bring the kids to me. I have to see them before I go out, and my security knows that. To me it is like a B12 shot. I am ready to conquer the world now. I just got the reminder what it is all about. They inject it into me. I am ready to take on the universe. It´s true. I did all of my albums for kids. It was my gift back. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Everything is for them. The greatest joy."
Michael Jackson in conversations with Rabbi Schmuley Boteach in the book "Honoring the Child Spirit"
"I think God outdid Himself when He created children."
Michael Jackson
"When I see children, I see the face of God. That's why I love them so much. That's what I see."
Michael Jackson
"I really don’t think this world was ready for the kind of person Michael was. You know what I’m saying? He was love. That’s all he knew. He loved children because children are innocent, they’re not tainted, and they don’t judge you, they don’t want anything from you. And that’s why he felt comfortable being around children."
Stephanie Mills
"Children show me in their playful smiles the divine in everyone. This simple goodness shines straight from their hearts. Being with them connects us to the deeper wisdom of life. These children are a reminder of the preciousness of all life, especially young lives untouched by hatred, prejudice and greed. Now, when the world is so confused and its problems so complicated, we need our children more than ever. Their natural wisdom points the way to solutions that lie waiting to be recognized within our own hearts. Children are the world's foremost idealists and optimists.
It is for that reason that 'Heal The World" is organizing the World's Children Congress next year, made up exclusively of delegates, aged 8 to 16. The world desperately needs their innocent perspective on the world's problems. We have to heal our wounded planet of the chaos, despair and senseless destruction we see today. The mission of HTW, my mission, is healing. Pure and simple. To heal the world, we must start by healing our children. Today, we come bearing gifts for the children of war-torn Sarajevo.
In 1992, Sarajevo has become a symbol of so much that is tragic, but avoidable in our world. Prejudice and ethnic hatred, the destruction of the environment, the shattering of families and of centuries-old communities. We are pleased to announce at this special time of year that we will turn our efforts home, to the plight of our American children. Towards this end, we are planning "Convoy USA". This will be an effort to help all Americans work together toward a single objective: to heal the children of our inner cities.
This Thanksgiving is particularly special to me, with the launch of the single, "Heal The World". I wrote this song for everyone in our world, in an effort to help bring global harmony. All the proceeds of this song will go to the "Heal The World Foundation". Thank you, all, for coming. Special thanks to AmeriCares, for standing side by side to us at this project. To all of you who have supported "Heal The World" with your time and donations, our prayers and thanks […]."
On November 24, 1992, via a press conference in New York City, New York, he speaks about children and raises understanding on his "HTWF" and on the aids organized by his charity and himself for the war-stricken Sarajevo, Bosnia Herzegovina
Wise Little Girl
I know a wise little girl who cannot walk. She is confined to a wheelchair, and she may spend the rest of her life there, since her doctors hold out almost no hope of ever making her paralyzed legs better.
When I first met this little girl, she flashed me a smile that burned me with its blazing happiness. How open she was! She wasn't hiding out from self-pity or asking for approval or protecting herself from a sense of shame. She felt completely innocent about not being able to walk, like a puppy that has no idea if it is a mongrel or a champion of the breed.
She made no judgments about herself. That was her wisdom.
I have seen the same wise look in other children, "poor" children as society sees them, because they lack food, money, secure homes, or healthy bodies. By the time they reach a certain age, many of these children grasp just how bad their situation is. The way that adults look at their lives robs them of that first innocence that is so precious and rare. They begin to believe that they should feel bad about themselves; that this is "right."
But this wise little girl, being only four, floated above pity and shame like a carefree sparrow. She took my heart in her hands and made it as weightless as a cotton puff, so that it was impossible for me to even begin to think, "What a terrible thing." All I saw was light and love. In their innocence, very young children know themselves to be light and love. If we will allow them, they can teach us to see ourselves the same way.
One sparkle from a little girl's gaze contains the same knowledge that Nature implants at the heart of every life-form. It is life's silent secret, not to be put into words. It just knows. It knows peace and how not to hurt. It knows that even the least breath is a gesture of gratitude to the Creator. It smiles to be alive, waiting patiently for ages of ignorance and sorrow to pass away like a mirage.
I see this knowledge showing itself in the eyes of children more and more, which makes me think that their innocence is growing stronger. They are going to disarm us adults, and that will be enough to disarm the world. They feel no reason to spoil the environment, and so the environment will be cleaned up without a quarrel. A wise little girl told me the future when she looked at me, so full of peace and contentment. I rejoice in trusting her above all the experts. As light and love drive away our guilt and shame, her prophecy must come true.
Michael Jackson in his book "Dancing The Dream"
"What you don´t know about me is how much I love film and art and I want to direct so badly. I could scream, I want to show the world through the eyes of a child because I understand them so much. Their pain and their joy and their laughter and what hurts them. And I see the world through their eyes and I want to portrait that on film. That´s my real passion. I love it. It´s too much."
Michael Jackson
Question: You've always been one to think about other people; to care for children around the world. "What could we do for you? We give you all our love, but what more could we give to you?
Michael: When I come to town, I would love to see a children's festival, to hear children's choirs, uh, you know, pretty much present when I come to different countries, singing some of their favorite songs of mine. Uh, we should forge and create a children's day, a celebration Internationally, where children are honored. Where parents can take their children to the movies or to the toy store or to the park. And that, alone, will create a bonding. Because the family bond has been broken. They don't eat with their children or speak to their children much anymore, or mother their children. And I would love to see a celebration for children. Children's Day; a holiday. We have Mothers Day, Fathers Day -- no Children's day. And, uh, I would love when I come to town just to see them sing songs, or a parade or something. I would love that.
Online audio chat (October 26th 2001)
Michael's Children's Universal Bill of Rights from his Oxford University Speech:
1. The right to be loved without having to earn it.
2. The right to be protected, without having to deserve it.
3. The right to feel valuable, even if you came into the world with nothing.
4. The right to be listened to without having to be interesting.
5. The right to be read a bedtime story, without having to compete with the evening news (or East Enders)
6. The right to an education without having to dodge bullets at school.
7. The right to be thought of as adorable, even if you have a face that only a mother could love.
"I pray for peace all the time,and the most important thing I pray for is the protection for children and babies. That's the thing that concerns me the most.I want them to be protected and to have more children's rights in the world,or there is a day for children,a celebration for children. Just show them,give them a little more attention and love"
Michael Jackson, Oct 26th 2001, interview with GetMusic.com (Sharon)
To all the grown-ups, I’d like to say this…to us, so many things seem important. Sometimes we think WE are important. We are not important. Nothing is more important than our children. They are the future. They can heal the world. It is our obligation to be there for them, to advise them, to motivate them, to help them and to love them. Let us encourage them to go for their dreams…and let us as parents, friends and relatives help them to have good dreams.”
Michael Jackson’s Christmas Message for the Children of Germany in December 2002
"If I were living for no other reason than to help and please kids, that would be enough for me."
Michael Jackson
"To honor the children of the world, I vow to keep my promise to help the sick and dying, the alone, homeless and hungry, through the construction of children's hospitals and orphanages in every needy corner of the world.
Michael Jackson
MJ was extremely moved by the book They Cage Animals At Night by of Jennings Michael Burch. It´s a story of an abandoned little boy’s horrific journey through the American foster care system. Jennings M. Burch reveals the abuse and neglect he experienced during his lost childhood. Michael interviewed Jennings at Neverland, they wanted to make a movie based on the book:
