Wacky Bravery

RIP Michael Jackson jokes.

Like with every other major celebrity we chide incessantly, apparently this isn't funny anymore. Millions of people around the world will spend today looking back at the masterful music videos he created, which launched almost everything we know about music today. Many will try and forget that they spent the past few years of his career making nothing but jokes about him. Others will try to forget that they made fun of his incurable conditions. Most will try to forget that they refused to let a man, proven innocent in court, live down the false accusations against him.

His art will outlast these cruelties, but unfortunately the same cannot be said for he himself.

I met a woman in a coffee shop last summer that spent a good hour talking about Michael Jackson to me, that was probably the extent of what I ever really talked about him before today. She, in a bit of a paranoid moment, insisted that the US government made Jackson crazy on purpose after 1985 so that he could not become President one day. That, was insane. What isn't insane, is that little by little, we the public contribute to the sadness and loneliness of the figures which - according to our overall reaction today as a society - make us very happy. Either we chide those who just 'seem to be asking for it', or we say nothing when those around us do.

I have laughed at my fair share of Jackson jokes, so I'm no better - at least I think I have, as none were very memorable. Maybe I haven't, but I could have seen myself doing so. I never really listened to his music, so I don't really have that childhood connection to him. But he made a big impact on me, when he was able to sit through all those trials, accused of something he did not do, and remain quiet and polite. To me, he was wacky brave. Braver than most, including myself, who sometimes shrink behind our lesser natures when exposed to something or someone that makes us feel uncomfortable, that seems strange to us, or that gives us an outlet for our own issues.

Let there be less bullies in heaven than you found here on earth, Mr. Jackson.