The Man in the Mirror

I realize that the web has already been spammed and bombarded with Micheal Jackson memorobilia, quotes, memories, prayers, and so on since his death, however, being an avid fan of he AND his music my whole life, I feel it’s only right for me to say a few things, at the least.

I have loved Mike’s music since I was a kid listening to the Jackson 5 with my dad. Although this does not technically count as “his” music, but rather the family’s music, it is still him, nonetheless.  When I turned 10  (maybe 11) I got into his individual stuff – Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough, Rock With You, Wanna Be Startin’ Something, Beat it, Billie Jean, PYT, Bad, The Way You Make Me Feel, Smooth Criminal, Man in the Mirror, Street Walker, Remember the Time, Heal the World, Black or White, Scream, Little Susie, Thriller, and so on – and continued listening throughout my adolescent life. I even own his video cassette “Moonwalker” and highly recommend it to everyone – Michael Jackson fan, or not. Not only were his songs classic for sleepovers, dance parties, and car concerts, but they touched almost every generation alive today, and everyone who is anyone has tried to copy his dance moves.

Micheal’s songs hit my grandparents (the greateest generation) and parents (the baby boomers) with the Jackson 5, they hit my my brother M’s generation (Generation Y) and my brother D’s generation (MTV Generation) with his ‘Off the Wall’ and ‘Thriller’ albums, he hit my generation (generation X) with Invincible, and he even hits today’s modern generation (generation Z) with a combination of songs that are played through the radio, on TV commercials, in movies, and so on. As an entertainer, you don’t get any better than this. I would put him in the musical greats, along with Frankie (Sinatra), Madonna (although I don’t particularly like her), and The Beatles.

A few years back when allegations of child molestation accused Michael I was skeptical to believe, and still to this day do not believe any of the accusations. It is undeniable that Mike had issues and was “weird” in comparison to the general public. But no one ever though to think about why he was so weird, or to think that maybe his Neverland Ranch WAS really to give back to children so they didn’t have to go through life with no childhood like him. He was a childhood star who stayed a star his ENTIRE life. Recent breakdowns from Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears (also in my greats list) should have showed us that life in the spotlight for some will leads to outrageous, sometimes unexceptable behavior.

In Michael’s case, he never had a childhood. I saw a clip on the news of him grocery shopping late at night. They of course had to close the store for him. But in the video, he was so happy and excited, he got a thrill out of picking out fresh produce. Keep in mind this is a video of him as a grown man with children. When you see something like that, you know there is something wrong with his home life, not to mention upstairs. Just goes to show you, that even with all his success, all his money (at least until debt kicked in), he still was deprived of lifes simply but necessary joys.

People sometimes forget that Mike raised BILLIONS for charities with his “Heal the World” foundation and compaign. I honestly think that his Neverland Ranch was a gift to sick kids who might never live past the age of 10, who might never get a chance to visit Disney World or travel the world.

And as far as the crazy surgery (and subsequent pain) Mike put himself through – I think that he was mentally ill in the fact that he thought he had to be white in order to reach his full potential as a pop icon. During a large portion of his career, black people were not fully accepted into society yet. I think it is a shame that he felt he needed to be white to be great – he probably never realized how great he was! On top of that, Michael served as a model for black integration into mainstream society and the celebrity world. I mean, MTV was forced to play his Thriller music video because of its heightened popularity and high demand, at a time when no other black artists were featured on the popular music station.

To top it all off – Michael Jackson ended his life with 13 Grammies, 13 number one singles, and over 750 million records sold worldwide. His comeback tour that was about to go on would’ve released him from debt and probably would have put him back in the lime light on top of his game.

All in all, I think Michael Jackson is a legend and a musical genius, and should only be remembered for the greatness he brought to the world.

Heaven

I got this poem in an e-mail and found it to be very interesting, especially given my unique take on religion. So, I thought I’d share it with you and let it resonate with you for awhile before I give in my two cents. Enjoy:

I was shocked, confused, bewildered as I entered Heaven’s door,
Not by the beauty of it all, Nor the lights or its decor.

But it was the folks in Heaven who made me sputter and gasp–
The thieves, the liars, the sinners, the alcoholics and the trash.

There stood the kid from seventh grade who swiped my lunch money, twice!
Next to him was my old neighbor who never said anything nice.

Herb, who I always thought was rotting away in hell,
Was sitting pretty on cloud nine looking incredibly well.

I nudged Jesus, “What’s the deal? I would love to hear Your take.
How’d all these sinners get up here? God must’ve made a mistake!

And why’s everyone so quiet, So somber – give me a clue.”
“Hush, child,” He said, “they’re all in shock. No one thought they’d be seeing you.”

This poem just goes to show you that just because you think everyone else is not as “heaven-worthy” or religious or good as you does not mean you deserve any better than they. People practice their religion in all different ways, and the contradiction in all of the Bibles and religious writings perfectly exemplify that no one way is right.

Just because you say prayers or go to church or temple does not make you the ideal mortal. No one is perfect. In addition, no matter what people believe, it can be considered a religion, even if to them their God is a squirrel and their place of worship is the forest.

People sometimes (almost always) fail to realize this. And this is one of the major problems society faces today – intolerance and misunderstanding of others, especially when it comes down to religion. Everyone is so protective of their own beliefs but they prosecute and look down on those who believe differently.

Someone said to me the other day that all Muslims are terrorists. What a stupid thing to say. Generalizations to begin with are always wrong – but this is like saying all Protestants are KKK or something similar. Every religious group to ever exist has had some history of violence. You might be thinking this comment came from someone that is naive and young and sheltered; rather, it came from a grown person of strong Catholic faith. People wonder why we have so many wars and why hatred has not yet been erased from the human faith. This is one reason.

So take this poem and remember your actions are just as strong as your words in how you live your life, and in the determination of your being heaven- or hell-bound. Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future.