Friday, June 26, 2009

RIP Michael Jackson


Many, many people are mourning the untimely passing of Michael Jackson. A handful of comments I've read on myspace or facebook are negative or disparaging comments, but not many.

Frankly, I'm shocked and sad. I'm shocked because, obviously, we do not expect someone so young to die suddenly. Especially someone everyone "knows." These icons are supposed to live forever, as was Farrah Fawcett, who's been mostly lost in the news of MJ's demise.

I'm sad ...... saddened thinking about what I know of the life of this man, whom I'd never met. There are a few people who know with certainty whether Michael Jackson was guilty of molesting children. I certainly don't. Do I think it's possible that some parents decided they'd found an ingenious way of becoming millionaires? Yes, I do. After all, they left their children with a man who had already been accused (1993) of molesting a child. Those parents took a payoff. Is $22 million worth not prosecuting your child's molester? Hmmmmmmm. I find money in lieu of prosecution to be circumspect.

So I have no idea of MJ's guilt, and neither does most of the world. I tend to think he was odd, but innocent.

It would seem that this last experience with legal problems in 2005 basically crushed his spirit, already damaged by a life lived in a bubble. That is the saddest thing of all to me. Any time one's spirit is crushed whether it's by a parent (Frances Farmer), an event, societal expectations, or prejudice, it is monumentally sad.

Seemingly, Michael Jackson wanted to live in a fantasy world. His continual alteration of his face, his "Neverland" (link at top), his fear of aging (basically starving himself: 5'11" and 120 pounds?), spending much of his time with children.

Let me pose this scenario regarding that fantasy: if you had lived in the surreal world of entertainment since you were five years old, never experiencing "real life", and had the money to create your very own fantasy world, would you? Hell .... I'd like to make my own world a fantasy land right now (that's what my gardening is all about) and then share it with people. Why not? How many people decorate their "public spaces" in order to impress others. Isn't that just as bizarre or ultimately just as HUMAN as making your own Neverland?



Perusing the photos from the sale of "Neverland" are absolutely intriguing to me (be sure to click on the Neverland link at top). I want to move right in! Does this mean I want to permanently escape real life? Of course not. I can picture my studio being in one of those upper rooms ...........

My point is only this: the world has lost an incredible entertainer. An entertainer with an odd personal life? Well yes ..... but so what. A possibly very sad man? Yes, and that's the part that bothers me.

Sometimes we just see no way out of our encapsulation, even someone as rich and talented as Michael Jackson floundered within his own life.

RIP MJ, then please return in another talented, happier body and lifetime.

1 comment:

Dianie said...

perfectly said!

~Diane