Chance

Unlike most people who are sorrowful over Michael Jackson's death, I did not intend on paying a tribute of any kind, not even by re-listening to his songs over. Part of me feels that once I hear a note of Billie Jean or I'll Be There or Black or White, it evokes really really sad memories...things of the past that somehow, I shouldn't actually ponder upon and wallow in. I switched the radio off once I heard any of his songs being played, and as of now, I daren't set the telly on to watch his past concerts nor his biography nor the notable things he had done for charity.

But here I am, giving the King of Pop my fifteen-minutes worth of time and tribute.

I was never an ardent fan of his, neither was I the one who would constantly poke silly jokes at his antics. Oh, you know, the whole crotch grabbing signature he always had, his array of noses to pick from, how his face literally resembled that of a sunken monkey's cheek. I wasn't that cruel, but once in a while it would be sort of fun to playfully taunt this guy without him knowing forever. I have to admit, I wasn't acting too nice either.

Thriller, to date, is the scariest music video of him - of any singer - I have ever watched. While I could still remember googling his before and after pictures when I was 13, I would be shocked to learn that this cute chocolate kid from The Jackson 5 would soon transform into a whole shade of white some few decades later. Isn't it baffling how change could actually kill, too?

Quite recently, Fall Out Boy's cover of Beat It totally threw me off the hook, as I clearly recall that the song cannot be replaced by another voice on the planet. In other words, it was atrocious. But then, as I came across Kris Allen's version of Man in the Mirror and Remember The Time on American Idol, only did I realize how brilliant and simple MJ was with his songs. His messages were always so to-the-point, and many a time we have heard Heal the World being aired all over tv ads promoting everything from poverty to unity. This was how dominant his songs were, and I seriously do not want to get started on how his moonwalk is the number one inspiration to a huge lot out there.

Whatever it was that the press had pressured against him, MJ had lived a life of such serious controversies. It was extremely hard for the world to begin with, so I guess it must have been at a greature measure of difficulty for him to handle it all in solitude. But he was actually a good man, after all. What was God's purpose in doing this?

In the words of The Jackson 5, 'I want you back', if I could. Not because I have loved MJ all my life, but because it just sucks whenever a celebrity dies. Everything but his legacy lives on now...and I would not even have the opportunity to tell my children about him while he's alive. It would be like listening to Elvis' hits, where everything you hear will be nothing but memories. Anyway, MJ, thank you for the 45 years of great music. The world has only just begun to miss you.