The King is Dead

Contrary to popular report, yesterday’s biggest news story was not celebrity death. My daughter turned three. (Happy birthday, Poo-Poo!!) That is the biggest thing that happened in the world in which I live. I must also note that it is her world and will be so until she declares it otherwise.

For those of you who do not share my world view, that is alright. I’m sure that the biggest story of your day was the death of two celebrities, Farah Fawcett and Michael Jackson. And obviously the bigger of the two is that of Michael Jackson. He has been one of the biggest stars in the world for the last twenty five years.

There are a lot of people out here mourning and being sad over this man’s death. I, however, have no tears to shed about this event. I spent a few hours contemplating why I had this immediate gut reaction and came to some conclusions that tell me that maybe my outlook on life is beginning to change for the better.

I have come to the conclusion that anyone that has made the choice to be sad and mourn for Michael Jackson has lost their mind. The most insightful thing that I can say about his passing is that I have looked at this man’s accomplishments and gained some real, true inspiration from his life. This really has nothing to with the fact that he has the highest selling album of all time or his longevity in the notoriously fickle music industry.

Instead, I gained insight and enlightenment from his self expression. Granted, I didn’t like some of the controversy that surrounded him or some of the results of his self expression. However, I have to give him credit and respect for having the balls to do what he wanted. Our world seems so focused on conformity that when someone steps out and decides to be different it blows everyone's mind in some way.

The man radically changed his appearance. I know that I have repeated the joke about how Michael Jackson went from being a Black man to being a white woman. Regardless of anyone’s opinion, he made the choice and had the guts to accept the consequences of his decision for good or bad. That type of transformation gets my respect because I probably wouldn’t have the guts to go all of the way with it. He did it whether anyone liked it or hated it.

This man had one of the greatest jobs possible. As a performer, he traveled the world many times over and made millions of dollars doing it. Without a doubt, he was one of the best ever. There are very few people that I have met that wouldn’t admit to liking at least one of his songs. When I look at his ability to do his thing, I have to show some admiration for his accomplishments in his profession.

He lived the way he wanted to live. There were people who had a lot more money than Michael Jackson. How many of them had the audacity to live exactly the way they wanted to live? The man had a petting zoo and an amusement park in his back yard complete with a roller coaster. Let me repeat this: a roller coaster. Never in a million years of introspection and contemplation would I have come up with the idea of having my own roller coaster just so I would not have to wait in line and get mobbed at the local amusement park. Never.

While all of this is cool, it is not the most important part of Michael Jackson’s life example. Michael was loved worldwide. He could quite possibly by the most beloved person on the planet. The only person that could possibly challenge him for supremacy in that arena is Muhammad Ali. Michael Jordan may come in a distant third, followed by Barack Obama and Nelson Mandela in no particular order.

Now, here is a warning. I am about to say something that might be considered offensive, irreligious, or downright blasphemous. More people loved Michael Jackson worldwide than Mohammed, Jesus, or Buddha. Keep in mind that people fight, kill, and die for these people and have been doing so for thousands of years. Michael has got them all beat. Also note, as far as the popularity contest goes, Mohammed, Jesus, and Buddha had head starts on him of 1500, 2000, and 2500 years respectively. And nobody is talking about killing anyone because it would make Michael happy.

I think that it is incumbent on me to try to figure out how this man was able to engender the type of love and devotion that he experienced on whatever level and try to duplicate his effort within the scope of my life. I figure that if I can get one tenth of the people that love Michael Jackson to even know my name, I will have done something phenomenal. So there is no way that I am going to grieve for Michael Jackson. The man lived enough in his 50 years, relatively a blink of the eye, for 10 or 20 people. Instead, I choose to take some of his example and try to step up my own game.

P.S. My sister wants to know if they are going to blood test those little white kids of his.