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Remembering Michael
 
 
Like much of the world, I awoke this morning to headlines about Michael Jackson. It was no surprise, really...I'd virtually watched the event happen in real-time through Internet news headlines, from his collapse, being rushed to the hospital, and then the announcement of his death. So I knew it was coming today, as everyone collectively casts their thoughts towards the past, and memories of one of the most memorable persons ever to live.
 
I grew up on Michael Jackson, personally. I was born in 1979, so he was already one of the top entertainers in the world as a member of The Jackson 5/The Jacksons, and, by the time I was conscious, Michael Jackson songs were very nearly like air – absolutely everywhere. I tried to dance like him; wore the single white glove...I was in to it, much to the chagrin of my family. I grew up in a very small southern town, in a racist family. My childhood obsession was tolerated, as were the refrigerator magnets, dolls, posters, etc...but I'm not sure it was my family's favorite thing.
 
In hindsight, my Michael Jackson fan-dom very likely helped me to not take up that particular trait myself, racism I mean. I mean, he was so awesome! How could racism make any sense in a world where a black man was the coolest thing on the planet?
 
And he was the coolest thing on the planet, for a good while.
 
Thriller is the number one selling album of all time. Michael Jackson had 13 number one hits as a solo artist, 17, if you include his work with The Jackson 5. He holds several Guinness World Records, including most popular entertainer of all time.
 
Wikipedia has this to say about Michael Jackson's Thriller album:
 
“Beyond its record-breaking success among fans, Thriller instituted multiple changes within the music industry. One, it raised the importance of albums, while challenging notions about how many prospective hits an album should contain. Two, it restored to the industry a sense of confidence in its ability to release high-level artistry during a time when profits had been sinking due to what one industry analyst called "the ruins of punk and the chic regions of synthesizer pop". Three, it helped bring MTV into its heyday, even as MTV helped fuel Thriller's success. Four, Thriller paved the way for other well-profitable acts such as Prince. In the end, in many ways, Jackson had become a one-man rescue team for the music business. At its 25th anniversary, Thriller retained important influence over the music industry, artists, and American culture.”
 
The only things that really compare are Elvis and The Beatles.
 
Like many of his fans, unfortunately, I was eventually turned off by some of the more eccentric behavior later in his career. Even this, however, in the greater arch of the story of his life, is understandable.
 
The stories of his abuse as a child are well known. His father, Joseph Walter (“Joe”) Jackson, was known to beat him severely and regularly. He would sit in a chair, belt in hand, as his children practiced – any failure to perform perfectly resulted in an immediate and brutal thrashing. Michael Jackson could never speak of it without tears, and it is little wonder that – between his abuse and living in the spotlight for the vast majority of his life – some eccentricities would emerge in his later years.
 
Obviously, I never knew him personally. It is fair to say I know little to nothing about who Michael Jackson really was as a person. He had very close friends, friends who remained loyal even during some of the more lurid of the scandals of his later years...and I believe that says something. I know that he was extraordinarily generous with his money. He supported 39 charities at the time of his death, and had raised and donated millions to them. He co-wrote “We Are The World” with Lionel Richie for charity. He gave his 5 million share of his 1984 Victory Tour with The Jacksons to charity. Indeed, he was given an award by the President of the United States in that year for his support of various charities to combat drug abuse and alcoholism.
 
I do know that, in everything I have seen, I get the impression of a very lonely, confused individual. A person, who only wanted what everyone wants. He was an artist of rare talent, a performer of extraordinary skill, and, by all accounts, a warm and giving individual.
 
There is no way to know the true and full impact of a life like Michael Jackson's. How many, like me, were perhaps rescued from the ignorance of racism? How many young persons were inspired to become artists because of him? How many lives have been saved, and made better, by the millions he gave to aid programs? There were, perhaps, flaws...but I have never met anyone who is flawless. I will choose to remember Michael for the good things he did, rather than the things of which I might not approve.
 
Who am I to judge? No one, that's who.
 
May God Bless You, Michael Jackson. And may the next life bring you the peace and happiness that this one kept so far away. Never doubt that you will be remembered, and missed.