What Michael Meant To Me, and What He CAN Still Mean To Us All

On Thursday, June 25th 2009, an event took place which caused the world to stop…

It was not such an event as a world war, or a terrorist attack, or even the complete crash of the stock-market and world economy. But yet still, this event brought people into the streets, it brought tears, recollections of memories of childhood and days gone by.

On Thursday, June 25th 2009, at 2:26pm the King of Pop, Michael Jackson died.

When we look at this “strange” and “awesome” man and performer, one has many opinions. For a long, stretched out minute in the grand scheme of the Universal time frame, Michael Jackson was the biggest celebrity on the planet. His Thriller album sold record numbers the year it came out, and it is still the highest selling album of all time… Of ALL time! There is no other Super-star who can make that claim.

Like most people, when I heard the news, I stopped what I was doing. I was in shock. I was stunned.

In this day of social media, the way we receive information has completely changed. I did not hear the news from a news break on TV or via radio; I did not receive a phone call or a knock on my door. No… to have heard the news in that manner would have deemed me a “dinosaur” in this fast-paced, high-tech age.

That morning I had been extremely busy with prospective client intakes, consultations, and the endless emails that had permeated my inbox; I did not have time to visit any of the various social media networks where I conduct a large part of my networking.

Finally, I answered the last email and headed over to check messages and updates on Facebook. I logged in, and there on my wall was an update from someone who had the simple words “RIP Michael Jackson”.

Not sure if it was a prank or not, I went over to my Twitter account, and sure enough the number one tweeted item was #Michael Jackson.

Immediately I turned on CNN International, and there was the yellow banner of “Breaking News” and the endless news of the Superstars passing.

The endless videos of his mega-hits brought back floods of memories.

I was still in primary school when Thriller came out. All over the radio, one could hear Beat It, and Billie Jean, and of course, Thriller. Music videos were just emerging in Hong Kong, and Solid Gold was a Sunday afternoon main-stay. We all learned the words to the songs, and Michael Jackson’s killer moves emerged on the streets and in our schools.

My parents were not too happy in my choice of music, nor that I started to plaster my wall with posters and photos of Michael Jackson. While I was pre-pubescent, I think my parents started to fear that they were losing me.

I remember endless fights concerning the posters on my wall… being told that “nice girls don’t graffiti their walls with such images”.

And of course, Michael Jackson was just the start of the posters…

In fact; as I think back, Michael Jackson was truly the start of my adolescence. Soon, many of his images on my wall were replaced by WHAM!, Madonna, Cindi Lauper, Duran Duran, and many of the groups that populated the 80’s music scene.

Of course, my parents were aghast… I remember during one particular fight, they asked me a question which they repeated often during my earlier adolescent years; and that was “Do you think this Madonna or Michael Jackson will still be singing and dancing when they’re 50? Of course not! These people are nothing more than a flash in the pan!”

Now, as I look back at that question and their statement, I laugh. Time has shown that Madonna, who is now in her 50s, is still very much in form and producing more and more reinventions of herself, and still brings us amazing music; and Michael… well, what needs to be said there?

I spoke to my Mum a few days after the news of Michael’s death and asked how she found out. It actually amazed me what she said. She told me that she had been working in the garden and my sister (who is considerably older than I am, by almost 30 years), had heard the news and immediately came out into the garden to tell my Mum.

My sister was never “into” Michael Jackson, nor in any other popular group in the 80’s; as she is much older than I am, and is truly more like a second mother. So, the fact that she was the one who stopped what she was doing to inform my Mum, really showed the magnitude of what the news meant to so many.

And my Mum, well she stopped what she was doing in the garden and literally sat in shock; again, another testament to Michael’s influence and its far-reaching spread.

Thriller was the very first album that I owned that was popular. I got it in 1983.

We had friends come to visit with us who were from the US, and they used to always bring me the newest and most popular thing out of the States; this time, the newest and most popular thing, was Michael Jackson’s Thriller.

I don’t think my parents were as thrilled as I was, considering they viewed it as nothing more than “noise making”.

Several months later, I received my second Thriller album from a friend who visited from the UK.

To say I was thrilled was an understatement. I even posed for photos holding the album!

I was so crazed about Michael Jackson. I remember one particular experience in school. Our teacher was asking us all what our “dream pet” was. I immediately got up to the front of the class and informed the class that my dream pet was a boa constrictor or python snake, and a chimpanzee.

One of my best friends, Dina Sabnani (whom I have recently reconnected with after 25 years) piped up; “You’re only saying that because of Michael Jackson”. To which I got very embarrassed and denied it… fact was, it was absolutely true.

I had a huge photo of Michael on my wall; it was his famous Thriller photo where he was wearing his red jacket. By the time I got to high school (in 1984), the mouth on the poster was all but worn away. I sure did love him.

As the years progressed, I began to drift away from Michael Jackson; and while I had his earlier albums (Off the Wall and Thriller), I did not get Bad when it came out, and as I moved into the 90s and graduating from high school, and on to University and moving to a new country; I began to lose touch with much of what was happening in MJ’s world.

The world created this mega-star. We loved him, we built him up, we bought his albums, we followed his every move; and then, when the hint of something out of the norm surfaced, we tore him down, we ripped him to shreds, and we destroyed him.

When I think of this guy, locked away in his massive mansion, the whole world tearing him apart, literally – those who continued to love and adore him, and those who sought after every nasty, personal, and private thing about him, and then presented it on a platter to the whole world; those vultures standing in check-out lines at grocery stores reading the trash. Even today, I was at the supermarket and saw the photo on the cover of OK magazine; his last photo being transported in the ambulance to the hospital. To these vultures, he was only a commodity… just another paycheck.

But he wasn’t a commodity; he was a human being. He was a child in a man’s body, and all he ever wanted was to be loved. With every surgery, he tried to find his own beauty, the love in his life that seemed to perpetually elude him at every turn. But what did the world do? We laughed. We jeered. We screamed “WACKO JACKO!”

Looking the gift horse in the mouth, we did not know what we had. This last week… the whole world (for the most part) stood together in mourning. All over the internet, people are writing their condolences. They are crying. They are mourning…

This is a great lesson for each of us; how often do we take for granted those who are in our lives today? Are there those who we may work with, or who surround us that we may not be kind to? Do we easily yell and lose our temper with others? Are we just plain “mean”?

Michael Jackson sung a song which I feel we each should read the words to, and take a close look at; and we need to follow the example and make a difference in our lives, and in the lives of those around us.

Each person on this earth deserves to feel loved, to feel validated, to feel wanted. And while those feelings do need to resonate from within, we also need to look at the actions we take that can affect others. It does not matter the magnitude of an individual’s celebrity status, we are all human, with very real human needs and wants.

Man In The Mirror”

I’m Gonna Make A Change,
For Once In My Life
It’s Gonna Feel Real Good,
Gonna Make A Difference
Gonna Make It Right . . .

As I, Turn Up The Collar On My
Favourite Winter Coat
This Wind Is Blowin’ My Mind
I See The Kids In The Street,
With Not Enough To Eat
Who Am I, To Be Blind?
Pretending Not To See Their Needs

A Summer’s Disregard,
A Broken Bottle Top
And A One Man’s Soul
They Follow Each Other On
The Wind Ya’ Know
‘Cause They Got Nowhere To Go
That’s Why I Want You To Know

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

I’ve Been A Victim Of A Selfish Kind Of Love
It’s Time That I Realize
That There Are Some With No
Home, Not A Nickel To Loan
Could It Be Really Me,
Pretending That They’re Not Alone?

A Willow Deeply Scarred,
Somebody’s Broken Heart
And A Washed-Out Dream
They Follow The Pattern Of The Wind, Ya’ See
Cause They Got No Place To Be
That’s Why I’m Starting With Me

Yes, we have lost a bright light, an incredible star… Let’s look at this situation and begin to see how WE can start making changes. Every destination, every journey, begins with a single step. And if we each take that first step in creating positive change, the results can be magnificent.

I truly hope that Michael Jackson has found his eternal peace. I can just envision him transforming, and choosing to live in immortality as a young boy. And he is laughing, and playing, and flying in the clouds. Finally, he is free… Finally, he knows true and unconditional love… Finally, he is able to just be, without any of our earthly and human issues to ground him.

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