Okay, I get it. You hate Michael Jackson. A year later.

I wrote this blog last year and it seemed to hit a nerve. I love hitting nerves. Here it is again.  

Now please go away.
 
To say that Michael Jackson could dance and sing a little, is like saying Mozart liked to only play Chopsticks on the piano.
 
Perhaps you forgot (or never cared to know) that MTV was not broadcasting music videos by African Americans until Michael Jackson. Hello - that was less than 30 years ago. Perhaps you are less than 30 years old. So for those of us whose realities were experiencing man's inhumanity to man by seeing people having to sit in the back of buses, being hosed down and attacked by dogs when they bravely walked to be seen and heard, Michael Jackson did more than moon walk. He opened doors that should have never been closed. He also helped people see that we have more in common than all of our differences put together.
 
Michael Jackson was different looking. He was an adorable child and really good looking as a man in his 20s. Can you imagine how much pain he must have been in to keep morphing like he did? And for the record, the billions of dollars spent on cosmetic surgery were not just spent by Mr. Jackson. So those in glass houses....
 
A lot of people seem to treat people who are different like freaks. And you all did a fabulous job in making this man feel like a freak. Remember calling him Wacko Jacko? Remember believing all those absurd rumors as fact? Remember keeping those gossips rags in business because you would rather tear someone down then try to build someone up when they are down?
 
I heard some of you go on about the other news - the war, the economy, North Korea, the war dead. Maybe it' me, but I don't recall you all talking about these news items the day before Jackson died. You made a point of naming some of the young men who were killed overseas. You didn't do that last week. Why now? Because Michael Jackson died? And you had to trivialize him in death also? We will always have wars because we refuse to grow as people, but we will never have another Michael Jackson. That’s why it is such big news.
 
Michael Jackson had a simple message - love. Oh, I know that sounds so pie in the sky and to the cynics in the world, your heart does not beat to the real words of Michael Jackson. You're probably all too busy looking for the next victim to tear down. Hey, he has 3 children and they are young. Fresh meat.
 
You all got upset stomachs when he took his children out and they were wearing veils. How dare he? We want to see the freak's kids. He would not let you even a peek. And you know why? When those 3 kids went to play with other kids, they got to play like any other kids do – out in the open. We didn't know what they looked like. Michael gave them their childhood - something he was denied. What a freak, eh?
 
Okay onto the accusations of child abuse. You want to know what killed Michael Jackson? These accusations. Nothing else killed this musical genius. I never believed it because it just did not fit into his life. What I do believe is that greed took his life away also. A big payoff from a man too gentle to handle a smear campaign that some of the people and all of the media created. Lots of people are born without a soul. Have you checked to see yours is still there?
 
So for his fans who loved his music and the spirit of the man, I thank Michael Jackson for coming into the world while we were all alive. You made it such a better place. I only wish we could have done better for you.