The passing of Michael Jackson

Honestly, I was on the phone with my best friend, professional wrestling superstar Jake Layton, when his wife chirped in that Michael Jackson had died. We had just been discussing the death of Ed McMahon and how little the media had covered it, considering the impact of Ed McMahon on popular culture and how many stars he'd introduced to the world, well, to be honest, we thought it was pretty crappy how little coverage his passing received. Then it was told to us almost in passing. We both flipped on the news and it was confirmed.
Nothing really prepared me to hear that. Dont' get me wrong, I'm not devastated or anything melodramatic. But unless you hate music, music videos, the way concerts are presented today, and countless other variables then the death of Michael Jackson should mean something to you. I can tell you that almost everyone from the ages of 30-50 bought Thriller when it first came out. I know that Thriller was the first album I bought on my very own, a purchase decision that wasn't influenced by my parents. I really just fell in love with the music, even though the topics and subject matter was completely foreign to me, I could relate enough to it for it to positively influence me. A song like Human Nature still rings so true to this day. I was a fan, and my little brother became a fan too. He had the black and red leather Thriller jacket, I asked my mother to find the picture so I could post it on his myspace page. We both had the Michael Jackson dolls, I still have mine, still in it's package stored away in my mother's small house at the foot of the hill from the big house.
People forget what a positive role model Michael was, he didn't drink or do drugs, wasn't considered to a promiscuous person and that was really rare in the 80's. Here was someone who anyone could and did look up to.
Even in his later life, through all the trials and the media and the circus that surrounded him, he still did so much good for so many people. I couldn't imagine dealing with the jokes and the ridicule and the accusations. I'd probably kill myself.
Even now the media is attempting to sensationalize and go on and on about drug use and stuff like that. I say Who Cares? People are geniunely sad and sometimes an artist should transend the normal rules of society. I often wonder what we'd think of people like Mozart and Da Vinci had all the skeletons in their closets been revealed. That's not to say I approve of everything attributed to Michael Jackson, but there's no way to tell which of it was true and which of it was nonsense. We must also remember that Michael was found innocent and acquitted of all charges.
I offer this warning: we, as a society, need to stop looking to things outside of ourselves for answers. We need to stop going to the corporate controlled media for an unbiased viewpoints, we need to start believing in ourselves and what WE think about people and things. If we like something, we should be proud to embrace that. A wise man once said that just because you are a minority of one, that doesn't mean that everyone else is right. Truth is truth and truth is personal.
Michael Jackson raised millions and millions of dollars for starving children, he created a place for disadvantaged and dying children to come and have fun, and in the process spent millions of dollars doing that. As a society, we need to begin to treasure our artist, in all their eccentricities and uniqueness.
I hope that in the future it doesn't take such a tragic thing as death to make us realize how many national treasures we have in our performers here in the United States. As I write this, I wonder how much just a fraction of the love and adoration shown since his passing would've meant to Michael Jackson. How much of that would've gone a long to helping him?
The United States and the World has lost a true performing genius, who spread a positive message of love, compassion and unity. And regardless of whether he died of drug use, or if he was friends with a chimpanzee, or the other weird things about him, he should be admired for his message and for his committment to helping the children of the world. I've included the Michael Jackson film Moonwalker below for your viewing enjoyment...
May you find the peace in death that eluded you in life Michael Jackson.
Best Regards,
W. Dwight Hatfield
Marketing Director
SurvTech Solutions