Another Michael Jackson Post

I know it's already been written about here, but I still can't stop thinking about Michael Jackson.

The other day, as I was getting off the train at Belmont (I'm the one Gentleman who lives in Chicago), I noticed someone had put up a RIP Michael Jackson poster with a picture of Michael on it. He couldn't have been more than twelve in the photo. And I just started at it, and looked at it, and though about how, by the end of his life, Michael couldn't have looked any different from that picture. And it occurred to me that Michael's life is this completely unique blend of blazing triumph, and horrific tragedy.

On the one hand, you have the music. Everything from the Jackson Five, to probably about Thriller, where you just have this young star coming into his own, becoming something and someone who is going to leave a mark on popular music and culture that will last for all time. And then, you have pretty much everything after that, where Michael starts to lose control, and you end up with Bubbles the chimp, the molestation cases, Neverland, and the like. And, it seems to me, that Michael Jackson is always going to be one of the world's most baffling human paradoxes, achieving greater success than most people ever dream of, and at the same time, one of the most tragic downfalls known to man. And that's just got me thinking alot. What happened to him? What would his life have been like if he'd held on, if he'd grown into a person with a grasp on reality, and could really enjoy all that fame, and just kept on making music? What if the story had a happier ending?

It's a damn shame, and it brings me down. And I sure as hell hope he's at peace now, because, whatever you thought of him, the guy deserves at least that.