One thing that makes me sad is that the media in this country (in particular) tore him down, inside and out, yet, now they praise him. It seems like a very fraudulent appreciation. For me, I never fell into the hype of all the controversy surrounding his personal life. Though we can all agree there were many eccentricities about Michael, I don't think a person with that much love and respect for the world behind his music would do a lot of what he was accused of. If you watch a lot of his older interviews you can tell he was a shy and lonely person. Yet, it seemed no matter how hard people took punches at him he tried to keep his message of love above it. He's the only celebrity I can really think of that made those messages about the world and could back it up with their actions. Still, the media destroyed him. It's sad to me that someone with so much talent, that gave us so many great memories, and tried so hard to spread such a positive message was annihilated by the same public and media that once adored him.

In all honesty, when I first heard of Michael's death I wasn't immediately sad about it. My first thought was "Well, I didn't really know the guy." And it's true, none of us did, we only have the memories of his music pertaining to our own lives. Though that made us think we knew him, we never did. My second thought was "people die every day." There are so many people out there that lived there life doing so many good things but never get praised for it simply because they didn't have a hit song or movie to go along with their good deeds. Yes, it's absolutely sad that Michael Jackson died, but many great, talented, good natured, genius people die every day. However, because they were a teacher, or a firefighter, or a janitor, nobody pays much attention to it.

The way we absorb and praise celebrity here astounds me. I have a theory about this generation's obsession with "immediate satisfaction" and it kind of falls in line here. Though I'm guilty of seeing the movie, it's unsettling to me that there are so many Michael Jackson projects being made not even 6 months after his death. There seems to be a theme of "let's see how much money we can make off this dead guy." Which, I know sounds harsh, but someone somewhere has that mindset. Record companies are cashing in, releasing unnecessary remix compilations (I've counted almost 20 released since his death). Bootleg shirts are EVERYWHERE, surely you've seen them... "King of Pop 1958 - 2009" with a badly printed picture of Michael on it. To me, mourning the loss of one of my idols was almost tainted because I was distracted by the thought of "Gees, now everybody loves him again, probably because everyone is making money off him now that he's gone."

But, then I think back. The first CD I ever owned was Michael Jackson's Dangerous. I wrote Epic Records when I was 9 years old asking if they would send me the album because I didn't have enough money to buy it myself. A few months down the road I had forgotten about it, by that time I bought the cassette tape, but sure enough a MJJ Productions envelope showed up in my mailbox with the CD inside. I still have that same CD, and though it's been played to death and all scratched up now, it reminds me of dancing in my room with one white glove and homemade sparkle jacket, pretending to be one of the greatest entertainers in the world.

So with that, thank you Michael for setting a great example for me. For inspiring me to become an entertainer, and to be a good, decent person AS an entertainer. Also, let's not forget our own loved ones who have passed away as they were most likely just as important, if not more important to our childhood as Michael was.

That's all for now.