Still kind of numb over the whole thing......I still say that this death is the "Elvis of our Generation", and I wrote about it on my bloog late last night....Perhaps you can relate to it......
They say "Death comes in Threes'".
I don't know where that came from or who actually coined the phrase, but it is uncanny how it makes itself manifest.
I was talking yesterday about, how it might sound morbid, what with the passing of Ed McMahon a day or two ago, and the lovely Farrah Fawcett yesterday morning, that Death comes in a Trifecta. How telling were those words.
Now comes the news of the death of the King Of Pop.
I write these words just minutes before the hour of Midnight, Thursday evening, having digested the news and comment of the passing day.
It is very strange how the death of someone famous can make us look hard at life itself. Death ultimately comes to us. The Reaper constantly walks beside us whether we notice him or not. We are ultimately fragile human beings with strikingly short life span, be you a mere infant or 100 years old.
I am curious as to how you received the news of Michael Jackson.
Someone mentioned, "boy it must suck to be Farrah Fawcett". Indeed. She was taken away after a prolonged bout of cancer, and should have had this day to her memory. Yet I guarantee you that in 5 years, not many will be able to tell you when she died. Yet with Michael Jackson, The King Of Pop, this is akin to 9-11.
Heresy? Blasphemy? How dare you relate the death of Michael Jackson to the day of 9-11, you might say?
Just look at the news websites and TV stations. This is a more memorable day to almost everyone WORLDWIDE. I tried to confirm the death for several hours, but the Internet was clogged with people trying to get the news, with only TMZ making the claim he was dead, other news agencies, taking the better part of valor and no doubt with their News Editors screaming, "I want hard core evidence before we proclaim him dead!" No reasonable news agency was going to be the first to say it, under the auspicions of being wrong and being castigated for it. So we waited.....and waited. I waited. You did the same thing. I know you did. And for what?
The news that a great musician has died from cardiac arrest. And you will remember the day forever. This man brought the world to a standstill with his death. Literally to a standstill. Who else in history can say that they have done that? Sad really. All the clouds of lawsuits and possible child molestation and what not not hanging over him like a spectre.
But this brings me back to my original question: How did you receive the news of his death?
I must confess, Shock was the first thing that came to mind when I heard he was transported to the hospital.....And then something else......
A feeling of.....how should I say this......nothing.
I felt nothing. No sad thoughts. No tears. Just nothing. Life I guess goes on as you get older. Does that make me heartless, not caring about the passing of quite possibly the greatest musician, dancer and performer of all time?
Perhaps. But my thoughts are my own. I grew up with Michael Jackson, from his days with the Jackson 5 to Off The Wall, Thriller (which I still remember where I was, Midnight, 1982 at a friends house watching the Thriller premiere on MTV), the evening of the Mowtown Celebration and the stunning backwards moving of his feet, better known as the Moonwalk (and you know you tried so many times afterward, even to this day), Paul McCartney, BAD, Beat It, Billie Jean and more. He was a cultural Icon which permeated the course of Living In America. Baseball. Hotdogs, Apple Pie and Michael Jackson.
But then there are the allegations of the children that he over the years, and I have to be careful here, might have had relations with, and went to court over and was ultimately exonerated for. Did you think of those things also?
Maybe getting older numbs you to the fact of life and death. I know it has for me. It's sad though, when the older you get, the more people pass on that you remember from your childhood and teenage years. The people you looked up to, those celebrities and so called heroes that we fill our lives with everyday. Those who "seem to matter", per'se .
I don't shed tears over the death of Michael Jackson. Instead, I look back and wonder, what could have been if he had not taken the path of life he did so many years ago. One of my favorite MJ songs comes from his "HIStory" album:
"Childhood"
Have you seen my Childhood?
I'm searching for the world that I come from
'Cause I've been looking around
In the lost and found of my heart...
No one understands me
They view it as such strange eccentricities...
'Cause I keep kidding around
Like a child, but pardon me...
People say I'm not okay
'Cause I love such elementary things...
It's been my fate to compensate,
for the Childhood
I've never known...
Have you seen my Childhood?
I'm searching for that wonder in my youth
Like pirates in adventurous dreams,
Of conquest and kings on the throne...
Before you judge me, try hard to love me,
Look within your heart then ask,
Have you seen my Childhood?
People say I'm strange that way
'Cause I love such elementary things,
It's been my fate to compensate,
for the Childhood I've never known...
Have you seen my Childhood?
I'm searching for that wonder in my youth
Like fantastical stories to share
The dreams I would dare, watch me fly...
Before you judge me, try hard to love me.
The painful youth I've had
Have you seen my Childhood...
I hope he is now at peace, along with all of the others that have recently passed on.
And as you continue on in this life, remember, be careful who you put on a pedestal. Not celebrities, movie stars and Hollywood heroes.
Take time to talk your family and those close to you.
Let them know how much you love and care about them.
A blink of an eye. You never know when they could be taken away.
Skip Nelson
Country 969
