By the thousands, people will pour into Staple’s Center in Los Angeles and millions more around the world will, no doubt, glue themselves to television’s broadcast of the biggest spectacle since the death of Princess Di. Yes, today is Michael Jackson’s funeral.

While I don’t mean to diminish the loss of any family member to other family members and close friends, what does all this mourning really say about us–especially about all the people whose only connection to Jackson is his recordings?

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) recently reported that 25,000 children around the world die every night–one child every 3.5 seconds–yet I see little concern or desire to spend tens of thousands of dollars to help save them, even when we see people clamoring for “tickets” to the Jackson funeral and offering amazing sums for the privilege.

Even among our churches and our government, we hear the call for war rise above the call for helping the millions of people who need help the most.

Yes, today is The Big Day. 25,001 will be buried. Oh, but we would care about those other 25,000.