I have never seen anything like it. Michael Jackson. Dead. Twitter goes crazy, people rally in the streets to sing his songs and a whole generation of fans cry for their lost hero. It is quite incredible. Michael Jackson was, to me, almost a mythical figure. His fame and charismatic presence left me in awe but at the same time I felt sickened by the accusations of pedophilia.
I didn’t want to write a post about this initially for fear of seeming like I was just trying to “get in on” the commotion. But I have been quite affected by the death of Michael Jackson and, listening to his songs the past few days, I have realized that this man has taught me quite a lot.
What Michael Jackson taught me: the music that changed my life
I don’t want to gloss over the pedophilia; it is an extremely serious matter. And I think people make excuses for Michael far too often. But the fact of the matter remains, he was never convicted of such crimes and as a result we are obliged (in some countries at least) to consider him innocent. If he did do these terrible things I can’t begin to describe how disappointed it would make me feel. I honestly hope the rumors are just rumors.
But despite all of his misgivings, he was an amazing man. He has sold more albums than any other person in history and has dozens of songs that have changed people’s lives forever. Listening to his music over the past few days I have realized just how big a part of my life Jackson has been.
Here are a few songs that have literally changed my life. This is how I want to remember him:
The death of biggest star of all time
He could stand on a stage and make people faint without moving an inch. His music sells more than any other artist. His songs have changed the music industry. His dancing has changed dancing. He was a star like no other. And now he is dead.
So I want to know, what has Michael Jackson taught you? Have you learned something from his music or from his death? How has this latest news impacted you? Please leave a comment.
Originally posted on July 2, 2009 @ 6:36 am
Michael Jackson’s life tells us how a child deprived of love and made to work for fame and money at a very young age can affect him for the rest of his life.
It shows that no matter how much you earn, what a legendary status you attain, what actually matters is the love that you get from your family and friends. If Michael had these, he would live happy, die happy and know how to use his money in the right direction.
What Michael Jackson’s life taught to me…?
Accept yourself for who you are, because if you don’t you will spend your entire life trying to become some type of ideal you hold in your mind, one that you will never be able to reach, no matter how much money you have.
I loved his music, but I had empathy for his soul, one can hope that he is at rest in some way, shape or form 🙂
I think I have learned more from MJ’s life than from his death, but his death certainly illuminated parts of his life that filled in some blank spaces for me. I think that, despite his fame and wealth and power, Michael was as scared as the rest of us sometimes. Power and money and fame do not shelter us from our innermost thoughts. Those are always present, no matter who we are, and we are partly a product of our heredity, but also partly a product of our environment. I think Michael had a very rare difficult life. He was not allowed a childhood (how awful!), and spent a lifetime trying to please others, even raising the bar himself over and over again, a self-admitted perfectionist. I think all he really craved was love and understanding. I wish people had been a little more empathetic to that. So what if he had plastic surgery? So what if he had amusement rides in his back yard? From some of our most *eccentric* people come great ideas and and advancements in history. He always had my empathy as I saw the scared little boy inside. It all comes down to love in the end. Love, tolerance, and understanding.
i would rather rephrase the title of this post to ” what has michael jackson’s life and death taught you?” its not just his death, but his life also taught us just as much.
his life taught us that no matter how much you may be in control of your own life, there are some factors that are beyond your control that determines so much of what life eventually ends up giving you. his father abused him, teased him, taunted him, used him … all this had to take its toll on a young mind. i blame his father for the way the world, in turn, did the same to him in his adult life what his father did earlier in his childhood – tease, taunt, abuse, use. i would not totally blame him for the way his life ended up to be like – he fought these insinuations all his life and in the end, the world won. his life taught me that no matter what the world thinks, only you know what you have endured and gone through and be yourself as you owe nothing to the world that does not understand you.
his death, too, showed just how idiotic the same world is when you’re gone. it didn’t matter whether he was alive or dead – the stupid world just get a kick out of our miseries. in a way i’m both glad and sad that he’s gone. sad because he wanted love which he tried hard to earn from his fans. glad because his detractors have now somewhere else to turn their hatred to.
overall, his life and death has taught me that we need to choose our friends well. many people around us are leachers in the disguise of well-wishers. in his naivety and vulnerability, MJ was brought to this kind of end. we should never be too naive or too vulnerable. we should keep a look out to our self. above all, we need to turn to God all the time for constant strength.
michael jackson is gone in the wake of his love for life and normalcy which his father denied and later the world also denied him. biggest lesson: when it comes to body, mind and soul, seek professional help and also positive self-help, for the people around you just want to make a buck out of your misery if you don’t take a hold of your life.
RIPMJ.
Great comments lately Khalsa!
MJ’s death affirms that regardless of your lot in life rich, famous, poor or infamous, life is temporary.
We fans live life as though stars like MJ will live forever, certainly they do in their recordings, but death’s grip spares no one. When their life ends we’re in shock and are left with disbelief and sadness. Sadness for a loss of a great musician and performer the day his music stop forever. Sadness because the impact they have on us becomes more poignant the day they die.
Michael music in my opinion taught me how to be humble and cherish people who love you. I’ve never once seen him being rude our cruel to his fans, not once…Even his own father, he still showed him respect and all even though he hurt him very much!
No Michael Jackson song made me think as much as “Man in the mirror”
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 then make a change,
Michael was fragile, that’s all I knew about him.
It has been almost a month since his passing and I still find this hard to accept. I hadn’t stopped to think how much I loved Michael Jackson since I was a young girl as he was my teen idol. I wached as the media scandalized his name always knew it was for money and I never believed any of that foolishness. Even after he won his case they wouldn’t let it go. Profit ment more than this beautiful human being. Michael’s life symbolised so many different meanings. It is hard to narrow it down to just one. As I type this I am filled with emotion because of the cruilty that he endured.I dont think I will view the world the same without him in it. All I know is that this dog eat dog society is out of control. What are we going to do America? “Im starting with the man in the Mirror”
I am not really affected by MJ’s passing, as I believe all of his greatest hits have already come to fruition. I’d like to see his music praised, but as a person he was an oddball, and come on guys, lets face it– a pedophile.
SP
Seiko Watches
MJ’s death shows that, no matter how great we think we are, we all gotta die.