When people
ask me, is/are there anyone who had biggest impact in your life? The answer is yes. And there are , always, two of the men, great artists in this modern world, who had somehow taught me a lot, more about life lessons than the art itself. This post is dedicated to one of them.
Honestly, I
am not a person who likes to chase after a star or pay much attention on the
entertainment industry. Till that very day, 25 June 2009. The day, when the brightest
star that had ever shined on earth, had vanished. I still remembered how everyone
in the class was talking about the news of the passing of this Superstar. They
might not be a fan of his music or artistic works, but the news was kind of
shocking. It even caused a stir in the media all over the world, be it on
newspapers, televisions, or radios.
His name
was known in every corner of the world, every continent. I did not know any of
his music before then. All I know was, this man was enormous, had done amazing
dance move like moonwalk (which I vividly remembered my dad taught me how to do
the moonwalk when I was a kid). Witnessing how the world reacted to the news, it
made me wanted to find out how could this man cause such a sensation.
Since that day, I started
to watch his videos, did some reading on his background, his music career and the
achievement that he had accomplished. I was astounded, literally, by everything about him. His dance moves were mesmerizing, as if, his body was meant to be built to be a perfect dancer, so smooth and flawless. His songs, would bring out every kind of emotion in you: sometimes they made you wanted to dance to the rhythm; sometimes, they brought tears; sometimes, it showed you the light when you hit the bottom. He was a professional performer, who knew how to catch the audiences' heart, to amaze them with mind-blowing stage performance. He was and is and will always be the true king in music industry, who broke the racial barrier and he was the pioneer who redefined music videos. His innovation had laid down the path for the future artists.
Throughout the years,
the media had made this man a weirdo in public eyes, despite his contribution
to the music industry and his countless humanitarian works that showered the
earth. What made me amazed the most, was his humanity and his charity works. Honestly,
I fell for him, was mainly because of his kindness and what he had done for the
children of the world. I could not believe, how the media could distort the
reality and made people believed all the rubbish that had been written.
At that
moment, I felt sorry for him. And I started listening to his music. All of them
are the songs written with his heart and soul. He wanted to convey the message
of love and peace through his masterpiece. And never did he take the credit of his creativity,
but he attributed it to God, the Almighty.
“Well,
the songwriting process is something very difficult to explain because it’s
very spiritual. It’s, uh…You really have it in the hands of God, and it’s as if
it’s been written already – that’s the real truth. As if it’s been written in
its entirety before were born and you’re just really the source through which
the songs come…”
“Heal The
World”, “We Are The World”, “Man In The Mirror”, “What More I Can Give”, "Earth Song", "Black or White", The Lost Children" and many more, are the songs written
and touched the hearts of the world. He sang those songs with all his hearts, savored them with all the emotion and love. He once said,
“I don’t sing
it if I don’t mean it.”
And I
believed that this is true.
And yes, he
loved children and he wanted to share his love and his fortune with them. Growing up in a family of 9 siblings, living in small house in Gary, Indiana with merely 2 bedroom. It was a norm for him to share beds and room with his brothers in that tiny house. He wasn't born with silver spoon in the mouth. Tears started to roll down my cheeks when i read the book written by his mother Katherine, "My Family, The Jacksons". The tough moments the Jackson family had to experience before their names came to light of the world. It was the hard work and sacrifice that the family had to make to become what they are today. Forgetting the play time, it was all about practice, practice and practice, all started from the age of 5. His act of kindness also started since he was young, where he would buy candies and give them to the children at his neighborhood. When he was at the height of his fame, he built a Neverland with theme parks, water parks, mini
zoo, cinemas, not for his own sake, but was to open up for those kids with
illnesses, with disabilities to come in and enjoy the moment of joy which they
could never have in their lives. Everything was free of charge. And yet his generosity
and naïve act had also brought him the biggest humiliation of all, the ridiculous
accusation of child sexual abuse. There is a reason why I labelled it ridiculous as I had done my reading on the court proceeding on the charges he had faced. The contradictory statement by the accusers and witnesses made the jurors shook their heads and brought light to them who was the real victim. He was found not guilty of all charges. There is no need for me to explain
further, everyone with a heart will feel the same. And yet, after 10 years his
passing, there are still people who made such an accusation to make profit out of it.
"Lies run sprint. Truth runs marathon."
And there are
still a lot of scandals surrounding this man. People did ask me, why do you like a person full of controversy. It is because I chose to see the good things that he had
done rather than all the unproven garbage written by the media. Skin bleaching? Yeah, if there is a skin bleaching technique, where are all the girls who
always wanted to keep their skin smooth and fair. This guy had a skin disease
called vitiligo which later proven by the autopsy report. And this truth will never appear on the news before his passing. Hey, he is a
pedophile. Yeah, please do your research on how FBI had investigated this
man for years and came out with 300+ pages of FBI file with no proof on he was
instead a pedophile that had molested a child. This man walked out of court house as free man after the judge announced that he was found not guilty of all charges. And yet, the journalists and public who just sat in front of the TVs, thinking they were more superior than the FBIs and judges, decided to label him as guilty.
People may ask, " You don't even meet him in person, talked to him. How do you know what you perceiving is right?" And that is the greatest part. Yes, i don't meet him in person, but the vibe that he is projecting could be felt, not only by me, but by millions and touches the hearts of the wounded. I might not be great in other things, but i will never be wrong, in perceiving who is good, who is bad. Till this age, I was never wrong.
The reason I
wrote this and kept in my blog, is for me to show someone that I loved, friends and families, the
reason he is the only star that I admired and will stop teasing me. I will never idolize someone or be a crazy fan, but it bothered me to see someone with an angelic heart being deemed as a monster. All he wanted to share is LOVE. It is pure and simple. The world
had torn him apart, and he still chose to shower his love back to this world. Even during his last rehearsal for "This Is It" concert, he was still talking about love, mother earth and peace. Even when he was in hypnotic state due to effect of anesthetic medication Propofol, he was still talking about building children hospital (it was heartbreaking while listening to this tape recording). Does it make sense, to say he is a bad guy, a criminal? Elders used to tell me, this world is not as simple as you think. I didn't believe. But now i see.
For me, He
is the angel, who tried to help the children and the world, and was deeply wounded
by this corrupted society. He was the one who not just say it but DO IT. He really TOOK ACTION. Most of his good deed was done secretly. Most of us will say, "oh, let us have campaign and raise awareness within the community." After the lengthy speech and making some posts for the newspapers photos, " there you go, this had 'showed' that we 'care'."
I will never forget the words by Rev Al Sharpton to his 3 children during the memorial in 2009:
"I want his three children to know: Wasn’t nothing strange about your daddy. It was strange what your daddy had to deal with. But he dealt with it…He dealt with it anyway. He dealt with it for us."
And yes,
his name is Michael Jackson. He is not just an artist to me. He is a legend, a humanitarian, an angel whose name will
shine and last forever. Thank you, God, for bringing such a wonderful human
being to this world. And thank you, God, for bringing him back to the heaven,
where no one can hurt him anymore. Remember, we always tend to pick the most beautiful flower from the field. He is the most beautiful flower in God's eyes.
There you stand
Singing and dancing to the rhythm of God
Sang to the top of your lungs
To spread the message of love and peace
Yet the world had turned a deaf ear on you
Pierced you with thorns of lies
You bled, you cried
You stood up
As resilient as you could be
Continue spreading the love to those in need
Till the very last moment
