So, today was a crazy day. Last night the Youth Missions team returned from El Salvador. It was a bittersweet moment. I’m glad to have them back and I’m really lookin forward to the stories they’ll tell. I’ve heard little bits of what God was doing and doing through them, but it was mostly just a homecoming last night. Lots of hugs, smiles, tears, and pictures. I know I had to contain my emotions a few times. It’s still hard to have not gone for the first time in four years. Very emotional night. Then I wake up this morning and I’m sick. I can barely talk and can’t swallow without pain. For anybody who knows me, I don’t like being sick. If I had someone to take care of me, I’d instantly turn into a baby. I can admit it. I hate being sick. Right now, though, there’s no one to take care of me so I just tough it out. Anyway, I went to urgent care and got some prescriptions and went to work. They actually told me to stay at home, rest, drink lots of fluids and try not to talk much. Luckily I don’t have strep or anything.
Anyway, I went to work and dealt with it. I had a headache all day long. Finally rested a little during lunch but right towards the end I got the news, Michael Jackson is in the hospital. A couple rumor sites already had him dead. I got the official word a little later. I know that Farrah Fawcett had passed earlier but that was kinda expected. Michael Jackson dead at 50, that’s crazy! Well not really but it was very unexpected to me. It really shouldn’t have been. I live my life in full expectation that I might not be alive tomorrow, so I don’t know how this caught me off gaurd. I am gonna take some time to reflect on what he brought to music, as an artist, and as a songwriter. I want my music to be something that people can be inspired by. I want it to be classified as really good music that is timeless. As I’m writing this, Maseo is rockin a great set on De La Soul’s dougout, and we’re celebrating his life and career! When big events happen, they always ask if you can remember where you were on that day. For 911, I was taking my son to his first day of School and then picking him right back up taking his mother and him with me to work for a few hours. (I was near by and not restricted by the bridge closings). So here’s where I was, at the Apple store, sick as could be, saddened but also happy with the mood and sounds of the dougout. It is all positive talk. Fans and friends, younger and older, all reflecting on what he brought to music and entertainment as a whole. There are songs that play where everyone is sad (songs like Man in the Mirror) and songs that make me want to get up and dance (don’t stop till you get enough). Maseo is helping to take us all on a journey through our lives. For me, Michael has been there since before I was born, and as a child of the 80′s, Mike was a big part of my childhood. He influenced so much of pop culture. Alot of the younger generation will never be able to realize how much of what they know was changed because of Michael. I hate the fact that their memories are all of the widely publicised, often controversial, Michael that got all the attention over the past 15 years or so. They don’t know of his philanthropy, only his controversy. I still pray for his soul as I have for past years and pray for his family (as well as Farrah’s) and I will continue to remember the good things about Michael. I hope that his legacy will be one that inspires future musicians and entertainers and makes people strive for greatness. I hope that people will be inspired to do for those less fortunate or to dream of a better world and act upon those dreams. I hope that people would be inspired to see the worlds problems with the child like innocence that believes that they can make a difference.
RIP – Michael Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009)
