Remembering and Reminiscing

Before I head off to sleep tonight, I wanted to reflect on something and join the other millions of people who paid some sort of retrospect to the memory of Michael Jackson.

Since his death nearly 2 weeks ago, I have avoided all of the tv specials and tributes to him. Why? Cause quite frankly, I wasn't sure I wanted to listen to all these people who had been bad-mouthing him do an about face and start talking about what a good person he was.

Not knowing the man personally, I confess to having my doubts about his innocence when the charges of child molestation came out and he was taken to court over them. Was he guilty? Except for the supposed victims, the world will never know.

My 19-year-old son tonight summed it up perfectly. It wasn't all that long ago that people were putting him down for his questionable appearance, health, and "sexual appetite" for lack of a better term. And now here are a lot of the same people praising him for the man he was.

I think we all tend to feel a little guilty inside when we talk bad about someone we know and then something bad happens to them. But at the same time, we have to remember something else that this country's judicial system is based on: Innocent, until proven guilty. Michael was never proven guilty in a court of law. The man is innocent and should forever be seen as such.

I watched footage of his memorial service tonight on NBC Dateline and I saw the person I will remember. Michael Jackson was truly the King of Pop. He was an entertainer and an innovator. It's difficult for young people to know this nowadays, but anyone who was around during most of the 1980's can tell you it was harder then to turn on MTV and not see a Michael Jackson video than it is to turn on MTV now and see any video. I remember trying to get tickets to a 1984 concert in Kansas City, only to find them completely sold out (and well out of my price range). I will remember the man who gave us Thriller (the album AND the video). His music video's alone were must-see. If you haven't seen them, go to YouTube and lookup the videos listed below. I wanted to embed them here, but that feature was disabled at YouTube

Thriller (full version)
Beat It
Billie Jean
Remember the Time (featuring Eddie Murphy and Iman)
Black or White (w/Macauley Culkin and George Wendt)

One video I could embed here is below. The song here is 20 years old, but I think maybe the world has forgotten the message it sends...take a listen...



I choose to remember Michael Jackson as a man who brought a lot of music and a message of hope to anyone who would listen. I will also remember him as a man who left this world way too soon.

Save the music, Save the world...