Five celebrities you want trapped inside an elevator with you – I recently put together my list on facebook.
A comment was made – I can understand 1,3 and 5, but not 2 and 4.
My response was - Why? So far, no response which is fine. I don't expect him to understand.
#4 Michael – I know he's on a lot of minds today. Even as his body is laid to rest tonight, as I read, beneath the last supper until such a time when his family feel it’s safe for him to be placed in his final resting spot, his spirit does not rest. He’s not at peace. His life on earth was cut short, his life incomplete.
Michael would be the perfect man to have with you in crisis. He’ll not only protect you from the wolves, but he’ll lighten the air with his childlike antics, his genuine laughter, his soft gentle tone that easily curbs fear. He’ll burst into song or dance so unexpectedly, you’ll forget anything else.
Michael was an astute businessman in the respect he that didn’t go head strong into the music business and allow others to control him. He gleaned while they assumed he was simply a child performing a job to support his family. He took what other entertainers offered and combined them into something that became solely him. He learned what worked, what didn’t, why it didn’t and how to improve on it. He was an innovator, he was a genus.
I see Michael as one of the most intelligent men who've graced our presence. Beneath all that you see, much like Walt Disney, was a mind who put it altogether. Can you imagine having such a creative, busy mind that never shut down? Wow! I loved hearing his mother talk of when he was young and would suddenly wake during the night all excited because he had an idea. As a writer, I can relate. How at times, she must have had a hard time settling him down as the onslaught rushed through him. How it must have been a relief to finally be able to get out all that he'd had to hold back when he finally took the freedom to be him. Many are afraid of that step. He may have had the fear, but it took a seat all the way in the back of the bus. He contrived it, saw it, did it. He WOWED the world.
People preferred to look at Michael through critical eyewear, more out of jealousy - I always felt. They insisted on painting a portrait of a man whom was not possible of him to be. This is the sad part of living in a world where freedom of speech, and freedom of expression are respected but the words are given no consideration as to their affect. We have to endure the ignorant, the narrow-minded. We should be embracing the different, appreciating it, asking what we can do to aid - not tearing it to pieces, making fun of it.
He gave until it hurt, and gave some more. His concern in this life was the pain and suffering of others. He was raised during a time when child abuse was taken from behind closed doors and turned into headline news. He could relate. He could see a way to help others knowing he could not help himself. It’s sad. Michael’s heart stretched and stretched to the point that he felt the hurt of the world. He wanted to help the whole world. This was his goal. Whether it be performing on stage, visiting hospitals, bringing sick children to a place where, for a time, their world was filled with carefree wonder of a land he built.
I saw Michael as an introvert who had to put on a mask to enter the public eye - not the mask you've often seen him wear, but the internal mask that allows you to face the mass of what you fear. Both masks gave him an opportunity to deal with the public demand of more of him while he really wanted to be simply one of us.
For me, Michael symbolized what America was meant to be for all people. The opportunity to become someone who can make a difference. He was living proof that coming from the mist of nowhere can make a difference.
I didn’t idolize Michael when he came on the scene back in the 60’s and 70’s, even though he and his family were within a few hours driving distance of where I was raised. My heart and soul belonged to a young boy and his family much farther away. I, however, respected him, loved his music and thought he was the best of the best, but I'll be honest - I was more into the slow dancin' love songs. #2 Donny Osmond and Michael Jackson are very much alike just as they are different. Can you imagine what it would be like to be trapped in the elevator with the two of them coming from the same era, having so much in common, yet lives so different? That’s a meeting of the minds, souls and heart I’d love to be in the midst of.
For now, however, I laugh at the thought of him being with Elvis and Sammi Davis Jr – what fun they must be having. The moves he’s teaching them, the moves he never had the chance to show us. Can you see Elvis, with that crooked smile, attempting the moonwalk. Or Sammi laughing as he attemtps to balance on the tips of his toes. Oh, and you can bet Groucho Marx is having a good time mimicking them. It would be a show Emmett Kelly would have trouble not smiling at.
I thought maybe I’d be able to say good-bye Michael today, but now, I know that is something I’ll never be able to do. His death was senseless, unexpected and a loss such as that is not something you can dismiss. How can you, when you know he had plans, not only for us, but for his three children and those around the world?
To his children – Prince Michael, Paris, Prince Michael II aka Blanket – Blanket of Love, know while time will lessen the loss of him in your life, his love, his legacy, his heart will be with you every single day of your life. Learn from the life of your father, and carry on what is meant for you do. Don't stop dancing, Blanket.
I’ll share something kind of funny – when I saw Michael perform on the tenth anniversary show for MTV, I thought he was so very sexy. I curbed the thought right away. I’d simply forgotten he was my age and it was perfectly ok to think it. Michael was sexy in all stages of his life.
Ben was always my favorite song of Michaels – I was actually surprised to hear it was the favorite of so many. So, this is my little piece of Michael for you all.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRTJ2xVr0PA
I always loved this moment from the 10th anniversary show of MTV - when I learned he died, this is what I thought of it and told my family would be the perfect tribute in statue form -- wrapped in the wings of a golden angel.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxKvN44wGqgThanks for sharing your life with us, Michael!
