R.I.P. MJ

There are so many opinions surrounding Michael Jackson’s death. I’ve been on Facebook tonight, reading and participating in some of the chatter, taking in the mixed views on the life and death of this legend.  To me, he was a genius. A misunderstood, eccentric, musical genius. Although his brilliance created an empire for him, it also imprisoned him. After playing in nightclubs as a mere child, he was skyrocketed to a level of fame that would inhibit him from ever again even eating at a McDonald’s, going to a prom, attending a homecoming game, sitting in a barber’s chair and shooting the sh*#, ordering extra butter on his popcorn at a public movie theater, or even going to the corner store to pick up some soda and a candy bar.

Answer me this…How could anyone have expected him to fall into the acceptable norms held by this society when he was never allowed to even live within those norms? Was he a pedophile? I don’t know, does anyone know for sure? Let’s get real, when one kid’s family accepts a payment of twenty million dollars and then suddenly drop their suit, how long until someone else is trying to get that same multi-million dollar deal? That’s a big cash cow just waiting to be milked. From what I understand, that second kid’s family (mother) wasn’t even credible enough to carry the case. Now, I’m not saying for sure that these two kids (families) were lying, but why are so many people out there ready to #1-condemn a man that was never convicted and #2-forget just how much money was on the line here for the honesty of the alleged victims?  Besides, as a mother (or father), why would you let your child stay for lengths of time at a grown man’s (an unrelated grown man) house anyway? Not I, no, mmm-mm.

There’s actually a guy on my facebook homepage that called Michael Jackson a gender bending, race changing, boy loving pervert. I’ve already addressed my thought on the boy loving part, and now I’m really confused about the other two comments. Gender bending? Well, I can’t address that cuz I’m not sure what that means. Is it because he had a high, soft spoken voice? Uh, I just don’t get it. Race changing? The man’s skin was losing pigment, in patches, as a result of a disease or disorder. As a matter of fact, the mother of his children was the assistant to MJ’s skin doctor. Is there anyone out there who would want to walk around with patches of white skin taking over your black skin, or the other way around (for all us white folk to relate)?

The bottom line is this: As I heard it said earlier tonight, Michael Jackson created the soundtrack to many of our lives. I certainly can easily get nostalgic for any number of different times of my life, simply by listening to any number of MJ’s hits from over the last four decades. I became a teenager the year that Thriller came out. I knew the whole dance by heart and, in fact, danced it up and down our family’s hallway more times that I could count on both hands and feet ten times over. 

Regardless of what everyone thinks  this man did or didn’t do over the course of his short but very full life, he was just a man. A son, a brother, a father, just a man. He has a soul, just like everyone who reads this post, just like the guy spewing negative (and close minded) opinions on my Facebook, and just like me. I pray that his soul has been welcomed into the gates of Heaven and that now, finally, he can have some peace.