Eish! London 7 July

Tuesday, 7 July - Michael Jackson’s Memorial Service (1958 – 2009)
Actual diary entry:
I feel weird about the whole thing. To be honest the photos of him really scared me in the last decade. I thought he was brilliant back in the days of Black & White, Heal the World, Thriller (are you humming them too?) and his moon walking. I loved dancing and singing to his songs. It’s sad that the media took him from the ‘King of Pop’ to ‘Wacko Jacko’. Only recently did I find out that he was in the Guinness Book of World Records for the most funds donated by a Pop Star to charities. What an awesome legacy. Why wasn’t that ever big in the press?

I was fascinated by the thoughts of one of my colleagues from the TC. She believes that Michael Jackson always remained a child deep inside himself. He was taken into the adult world too soon and missed out on his youth thus missing out on all his stages of ‘growing up’. Maybe that’s why he did things in the manner and enthusiasm of an excited child: have sleep-overs, have a huge Neverland playground and of course show off your child to the world, without the adult thought that you don’t hold a child over a balcony. Every child wants to show off their fabulous belongings, that’s what children do, no hidden agenda or indecency, just “Look Mom!”

It doesn’t really matter what anyone thinks now, or whatever theories people have, because in truth: his music, the lyrics he sang, their beauty, honesty, truth and love spoke for themselves and resounded through the hearts of people around the world. He was a phenomenal blessing to the world of music and opened a door for people to smile, dance and find a touch of happiness. His suggestion for people to look at themselves in the mirror and change themselves to heal the world, to make the world a better place by uniting black and white, by making a difference, by making it right, by asking the man in the mirror to change his ways: “No message could have been any clearer, if you want to make the world a better place take a look at yourself and make a change”. For me that is fundamental truth; poetic, non-judgmental and most importantly open, honest and applicable to every human being. How you live your life is your choice.

Amongst the rat race and craziness of the world, and especially the music industry, Michael Jackson managed to see beauty in the world, he knew that the world was lacking love, he knew what people were taking for granted and he spoke out against materialism and lack of faith, that takes guts and passion. I can only imagine that seeing such beauty combined with such wastefulness must be torture for any sensitive and observant soul. I reckon it’s the minority of humans who don’t sleepwalk through life. There are only a handful of people who go out and live their purpose and passion, and Mr Jackson was one of those few.

I’m certainly not anyone who would have fainted at his concerts or gone mental at the sight of him; I find all that rather bizarre and inexplicable, he was a man, a human being like everyone else. I do, however, have a deep respect and admiration for a phenomenally talented man who was stuck in a sleepwalking world where he managed to create a bit of magic. I pray that his soul may rest knowing the awesomeness it achieved.

When I was editing this entry (to save you from my bad grammar and sentence structure), it struck me how sad it is that it takes death to be able to bring out honest contemplation and thoughts on subjects that should be a priority every day. Like what will I achieve today? How will I be the best I can be? I find it disheartening that it usually ends up being a tragedy that changes the paths of people’s lives. Someone dies, so now I’m going to do this for them, or I don’t want to end up like them, so I’m going to change. Wouldn’t it be great if people wanted to be better and choose better everyday, purely because they can? I think that would be awesome. I think Mr Jackson would have liked that too. On the flip side of the coin, it’s wonderful that someone’s life can so dramatically inspire and improve another’s. If only we paid more attention a little sooner.