Making Sense of Michael

Walking through the Publix parking lot last night to pick up Sammy’s birthday cake a parishoner asked me what I thought about the death of Michael Jackson.  Hmm.  Not exactly the question I was anticipating in that moment.  Never-the-less, a good question.  The global outpouring of grief and affection certainly indicates that his music resonated with millions of people – from all cultures. But the man was complex.  And, I believe, based the last 25 years, lonely, lost and casting about to discover who he was.  In that sense, also, I think millions resonated with his persona.  Having achieved a level of fame unknown to all but a select few, it was both sad and fascinating for me to see his personal, and apparently, angst-filled journey play itself out on such a public screen.  And, while most of our lives are played out on a much smaller stage, who has not learned that successes longed for, once attained, don’t satisfy; and people we thought friends weren’t, rather, only wanting something from us that, in reality or perception, they thought we could offer.

Baby Blue, over on her site, wrote a wonderful piece remembering Michael.  Here’s a clip:

Lots will be written about the life and death of Michael Jackson. For those of us here at the Cafe, though – through the Thriller, and theBillie Jean, and the Rock with You, and the Don’t Stop Until You Get Enough, and the Off the Wall, and the Beat It days – we still go back in time, to the less-than-cool days, but perhaps realer days, to the first Michael Jackson song I ever bought and say good-bye.

Here’s the rest