Gone too Soon

I had decided that I wasn't going to post about Michael Jackson's passing. Then I watched the memorial today. There has been a lot said about him lately, and I will admit I fell into reading all of the gossip, but today reminded me that all-in-all he was a person. He had friends and family who loved him and the rest of us only saw a small part of his life.

If you went out on the street right now, I would say 9/10 people could name a song by Micheal Jackson. 6/10 could probably sing an entire song. 10/10 could probably tell you something about him whether it be good or bad.

He was human. He might not have made the best choices in life, but who does? I will admit that I am far from perfect and have made many mistakes. I pray that I am not known by my mistakes and yet that is what it seems everyone can remember about celebrities. Was he different, by my standards yes...but who am I to judge? As Brooke Shields reminded us, "everyone thought we were weird, but to us--we were normal". Today during the memorial, I was reminded of the good he has done. I listened to his songs and really paid attention to the lyrics and better understood the meaning behind them. I cried for his children who will grow up without their father. I cried for Paris as she lamented her father.

I saw something happen at the end of his memorial service that I have only seen at one other memorial service. People applauded his life. I think that is a powerful statement about anyone's life. You are not guaranteed any set amount of time here on earth. Yet, if you can find some time to use your abilities to reach out and change another's life for the better, I think you have succeeded in life. I pray that I can touch someone's life in a way that when my time here on earth is done, they would be willing to stand up and applaud me and say "job well done".

So today, I choose not to focus on the controversy, but applaud Michael Jackson for a job well done. I hope that he has found peace and that his children find comfort during this hard time. Please remember that he was a person, who lived a life(and all that comes with it), used his talents to reach out to others, who was a father, and who is loved by others.

I'm starting with the man in the mirror.
I'm asking him to change his ways.
And no message could have been any clearer.
If you wanna make the world a better place,
Take a look at yourself, and make a change.