It was with great sadness that I learned about Michael Jackson’s demise. I’ve wanted to pay tribute to the legend and I wanted to make it special enough for the special person that he was. I can’t remember his first song I fell in love with but I can’t forget performing ‘Heal the world’ at a school function or singing along to ‘You are not alone’ and really feeling like I really wasn’t. I learned to separate his personal life from his performing life and in my eyes MJ always remained the greatest musician I had ever had the privilege of listening to. His personality and the way he could weather any storm and come out on top always amazed me.
I want to remember Michael, he who gave me hope through his songs and a determination borne out of suffering and rising. Mya Angelou said it best in her poem ‘We had Him’. I did not know him personally, but like most people I felt a sense of closeness to him since he opened up his world to everyone without exception. And I will miss Him.
Usher’s performance of ‘gone too soon’ moved me to tears as I’m sure it did most people. So many
things have happened in my life in the past few months that have broken my heart but a great person once said, ‘a heart never broken is pristine and sterile and will never know the joy of being imperfect.’ Michael’s passing really drove home the fact that life’s too short for silly games…… And I am grateful for my broken heart, even as I feel the pain of children losing a father at a very young age, and a family torn by grief.
I write this as I watch the memorial, Smokey just said Michael will never be gone, he will live on forever.’ And I believe him. I’m also glad I lived in this era, and became a part of his magic. That got me thinking, if I was to disappear off the face of the earth, how many people would take notice? Death does not bring to mind any pleasant memories, just grief deeper than the ocean, and bigger than us.
I have never known a man with so much love in his heart. And Michael like you said, ‘you are not alone.’ “There was nothing strange about MJ, what’s strange is what he had to deal with.” (Rev Al Sharpton). And I agree whole heartedly. R.I.P
