FAREWELL, MICHAEL JACKSON – YOU WERE INDEED THE GREATEST!

When Paul McCartney paid tribute to the late Michael Jackson, he described him as a “boy-man” – in recalling his sincere and gentle nature. In a sense, it was a very apt description, which summed Michael Jackson up perfectly. He was also described in every news report announcing his death, throughout the world, as the “King of Pop” – which is exactly what he was during his short life on this earth. US President Barrack Obama was right in mentioning the tragic side of his life in paying tribute to the unique Michael – but we each of us have our tragic side too: because to suffer personal tragedy, in the spiritual journey that humankind calls life, is also an essential part of the human condition. Those who sought to hurt him during his life can no longer do so now – and one thanks goodness that Michael is at last free of their envy and churlish negativity, which hurt him so, forever.

The origins of Michael’s angst came from his constant search for companionship: that was genuine and pure. He wanted desperately to find meaningful friendships, which, for those who felt attracted to him, and he to, did not spring from the gold-digger’s attraction for mere wealth and fame. He found the sincerity he sought in the innocence of the children he befriended. He relived his own lost childhood with such children: in relationships without the censure he had often suffered as a child himself. There were those who harboured a secret dislike for him, and wished his downfall – mostly closet-racists for whom successful persons of colour are objects to annihilate: lest their pre-eminence in society shake the very foundations of their rock-solid, white-supremacist belief, in the inferiority of people of colour. They tried desperately hard to destroy him – by making out, that somehow, his pure and desperate need for the love and friendship of the only group of human beings that he felt completely secure with, children, was the dirty and secret lusting of a sexual pervert of some kind. However, in the end, that unfair attempt to sully his reputation is not what the world remembered him for, when he breathed his last – and in that sense Michael’s spirit triumphed over all those mean-spirited and pitiable souls.

The truth of the matter, is that Michael was a vulnerable and lonely “boy-man” for whom life tragically dealt an unfair hand – because, somewhere in the processes that go into the maturing of a young boy, and turning him into a well-adjusted man and well-rounded individual, blessed with an adulthood, which enables him experience a lifelong sense of being at ease with himself, something went tragically wrong: and Michael ended up becoming a super-wealthy and vulnerable boy-genius emotionally trapped in a perpetually-frail man’s body. In a sense, Michael was a classic Peter Pan character. One hopes that those who wished his fall from grace, and twisted his pure and gentle love for children: those innocent friendships, with which they sought to destroy him and seized the opportunity to try him twice in the law courts (for what were slanderous and false accusations), will now see the true measure of Michael’s greatness: in the outpouring of genuine grief across the world, when his death was confirmed. No doubt, those negative-types hoped that his trial would end, in the jailing of yet another innocent black man – and add Michael to that shocking and disproportionately large number of African-Americans, who are incarcerated unfairly because of racial prejudice, in penitentiaries right across America. It is entirely fitting, that in commenting on his death, virtually every musician of note in the world today, did acknowledge Michael’s amazing genius – and stated the extent of his influence on much of contemporary pop music and culture. It was a confirmation of his status as one of the all-time truly greats of popular music.

Michael was an incredibly talented and extraordinary human being, who also suffered the torture, of that soul-destroying self-doubt, which almost always afflicts the truly great, in the complex internal world of creative and gifted individuals. By definition, it would appear that they have to suffer such angst - which manifests itself physically, in their sense of loneliness, even when surrounded by large crowds; in the hard-to-understand paradox, of apparently outwardly self-confident individuals, who yet still are perpetually racked by a deep and unremitting sense of insecurity; and in the never-ending insomnia they almost all invariably suffer from. Incidentally, all those quirks of character also happen to be the very conditions, which are the DNA of the building-blocks of the creative genius, which we all acknowledge in the really gifted amongst us – and is reflected in the astonishing degree of complexity and mastery that one finds in their creative work. In dying so young, Michael is following many creative geniuses in the world of show business, such as James Dean and Marylyn Monroe, who were also dependent on prescribed medication of some sort to calm their nerves and placate their internal demons. Those drugs were often meant to bring them the relief that being able to sleep soundly, for example, does provide all human beings – and enable us to recharge our batteries daily. That dependence on prescription drugs, whiles giving them the relief that sound sleep brings, also helped them escape the wounds, which their gentle souls received from life’s daily knocks – and which fate so cruelly condemned them to experience with such rare sensitivity all their lives. Yet, their resilience also enabled them to struggle valiantly to get through each day – as they faced up to life’s oft harsh realities during their angst-filled waking hours.

One can only console Michael’s very loving surviving family members, who stood by him throughout his travails, during his entire life – perhaps because being so close to him, they, more than most, knew what a truly beautiful spirit he had: and what a gentle and loving soul he was. His children can be justifiably proud of their great father when they become adults themselves – because the love he engendered in others, will ensure that they too are loved by many good and kind people the world over, all their lives. One naturally wishes them well and hopes that they have inherited his talent too. There is no doubt that Michael has already been immortalized by the amazing and incredibly wonderful body of work that he created and left behind – and, in the digital age, his brilliant chart-topping songs, will be treasured for as long as pop music is played: and throughout the generations, in every continent of the world, till the very end of time. Fare, thee well, O, King Michael – and may your gentle soul rest in peace forever. All those who loved your music are so glad, and think it entirely fitting, that the world did finally acknowledge your status, as the “King of Pop”, on the very day that your life on this earth came to an end – in the pouring of grief by millions when news of your passing away was reported around the world. You were indeed the greatest modern-day pop superstar that ever lived – and a truly wonderful human being, whose marvelous music billions of people listened to over the years, and loved, in virtually every corner of the globe. The name of the undisputed King of Pop was, and will, always be a veritable global brand! Farewell, Michael Joseph Jackson.