Adieu, Michael Jackson

So Michael Jackson is dead.

He was only a few years older than me. It’s not that I was a huge Michael Jackson fan, though I liked a lot of his 80’s stuff. But he was a cultural icon throughout my life. While growing up, he was always “there” in the background, making hit after hit. I remember dancing with friends to “ABC” when I was about seven. I listened to his music as I worked in the campus library when I was in college. I watched with bewilderment as he kept the emotions of a child, never quite managing to grow up. He couldn’t seem to handle the normal adult responsibilities such as finances, marital commitment, and fatherhood.

But I always knew that, whatever his personal proclivities, he had immense talent.

I feel like I’m just embarking on my life. Now his life has ended.

May he find the peace in death he never managed to find in life.