Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough

It's probably a cliche by now to post a blog about Michael Jackson, but I'm gonna do it anyway. MJ was the King of Pop. No one can dispute that. However, its been said many a'time that Michael wasn't exactly a morally just man. Maybe he was a child molester. Maybe he used his happy abode Neverland as a front. Maybe he did a bunch of drugs. Hell, maybe he killed a bunch of people.

The fact is, none of that matters once you're dead. It doesn't matter what you did to Great Aunt Sue at the 25th annual family reunion. It doesn't matter that you're gay and your parents disowned you. It doesn't matter that you have the sadistic pleasure of stealing little girl's underpants. When you're dead and gone, your List Of All The Horrible Things I've Done disappears.

Aunt Sue will remember all of the times you brought her an extra piece of pecan pie. Your parents will wish they hadn't disowned you and realize their mistake. Someone will wonder why you have so many teeny tiny pairs of undies. When it's all over, all that's left is you. Who you are. Not your accomplishments or failures. Just you.

Right now, all over the world, television stations are airing Michael Jackson specials. Every web browser has a feature and Youtube and MTV are playing his greatest hits nonstop. No one cares about his indiscretions. Everyone is remembering the first time Andrew did the Thriller dance at graduation. The time you tried to copy the Beat It dance but never could get it right. The time you attempted to do the moon walk. Because, who hasn't tried that?

Death is the great equalizer and no one can escape it. But people, the fact that for once, just once, the world isn't talking about all the bad things Michael did. The tabloids are running pictures of him hanging his baby out the window. The world is looking back on Michael and what his music meant to them. And that's who Michael Jackson is. He is his music. And his music will live on, cheesy as that sounds. And doesn't everyone want something whole, something solid to leave behind when they go?

In the words of Michael Jackson: “If you enter this world knowing you are loved and you leave this world knowing the same, then everything that happens in between can be dealt with.”

Indeed, it can.

(Note: "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" is a song by the late Michael Jackson, may he rest in peace.)