TRIBUTE TO A LEGEND: KING OF POP

Who is it...

Death is a difficult thing to deal with. A dear dear person told me that if you are the one that dies, its easy. It only takes a few minutes and you are gone. Its harder on the ones who are left behind. We don't want to die because we don't want those left behind to struggle with loss. They miss us, they want us to come back.

MJ's death has had an impact on those of us who grew up listening to his music, and even if sometimes we pretended he did not exist, even if we looked away during his difficult times, we do acknowledge his death.

His death means something to us. It means that something significant has been taken away from us, and we are no longer able to say sorry, neither can we make up for lost time. His death forces us to re-analyze our positions, question our own high moral standards and say, what went wrong, why did he become someone no one recognized? What happened?

Who was he?

Will you be there....

A few years ago, when I was still a naive high school girl, a classmate, quite musical, convinced the whole class to sing to MJ's 'Will you be there'. We hummed and she sang in her clear voice. I remember, our physics teacher walked in mid-song, but we all went on singing, rebellious, as if he wasn't there. I suppose he must have figured that we were just a bunch of hyper-active girls, because he let us be, and we never punished for this transgression. Thinking back, I think this was a moment in time, when I realised that if you really wanted to, you could transcend anything that stood in your way. But I digress. What was MJ's message?

A few days ago, a friend and I wondered about the arm band MJ wore on his hand all the time. A few internet searches led us to an answer: he wore an armband everyday to send a message, each band represented every child who died of hunger. MJ was an activist.

Black or White

How many people do you know who advocate for a non-racial world? We are all either for white, black or up for co-existence. But we all embrace our differences as if failure to do so would be to lose our very lives/identities. I watched the 'Black or White' video the other day. Granted, I immediately went on the defensive, why must Africans always be Masaais or whatever brand of Africans normally used to represent the continent?

But I also thought, wow, he really was making an effort. In his own way, he was trying to use his celebrity status to make a difference! While I might be over-stating it, one cannot escape the fact that when he started writing his own songs, he became so much more conscious of what was going on in the world.

We are the world...

There is a time, when we should hear a certain call, cause it seems its written in these lines. Cause its a chance we are taking, in leading our own lives, It seems we need nothing at all, I used to feel....

We are the world, we are the children, we are the ones to make a brighter day, so let's start giving...

I am Bad

However bad you are, I think we all should always know we can have a second chance. I did not know MJ personally. Never would have. But I think he made a change in my life. He was someone who tried, in his own stange way, to make a difference. I suppose sometimes that's all we need in life. Biblically, we cannot afford to throw stones, because inside, we all all bad.

I remember once, Oprah publicly denounced MJ for comparing himself with Nelson Mandela. I remember at the time thinking how the world made us who we are. The moral lense through which we are judged in this world, especially under the glare of this world, makes its near impossible to make a meaningful contribution in this world.

For the next few days, I will listen (some more) to his music and try and figure out what made him so great. He was a genius, and its a shame he passed on.