So what exactly motivates Madonna these days? Money? Fame? Exhibitionism? None of the above, says the woman herself. No, the Material Girl has evolved beyond all that egomania and striving for superficial things. What drives her now is not careerism or the promise of personal gain - it's the opportunity to help her fellow humans, to act as a shining beacon in a sea of blackness. Madonna's aim now is not to dominate the shallow world of entertainment, but to ascend to that rarefied realm occupied only by the most revered of figures.
"I want to be like Gandhi and Martin Luther King and John Lennon," said Madonna, during an interview on Sirius Satellite Radio, "but I want to stay alive."
Gandhi, Martin Luther King, John Lennon - big shoes to fill for someone once known mainly as the woman who simulated sex acts on MTV while clad in a wedding dress. But Madonna is undaunted by the loftiness of this company. In fact, she went even further in the interview, invoking the name of a still-more-exalted messenger of peace and love - the savior himself.
"For me we all need to be Jesus in our time," spoke Madonna. And this message was exactly what she was trying to convey during her recent stage shows, which featured her dangling from a disco-cross while video images of African AIDS orphans flashed across a screen. "Jesus's message was to love your neighbor as yourself," explained Madonna, "and these are people in need. I hope that people got that message. ... Of course some people thought 'Oh, she's just being controversial, she's just getting on a cross and trying to piss people off,' but that wasn't my intention at all."
No, merely fomenting controversy is not on Madonna's agenda. Her purpose now is a higher one. To serve as an example to all humanity, that we may see our way through our confusion, and emerge at last into the clear light of love. I think one of Madonna's own songs says it best:
If I take you from behind
Push myself into your mind
When you least expect it
Will you try and reject it
If I'm in charge and I treat you like a child
Will you let yourself go wild
Let my mouth go where it wants to
Give it up, do as I say
Give it up and let me have my way
I'll give you love, I'll hit you like a truck
I'll give you love, I'll teach you how to ...
Yes Madonna, I will give it up, I will do as you say. Hit me like a truck. A big eighteen-wheeler of love.
