The world has changed...again.

"He had shared the magic of those medieval heroes who could not die until they had come to the end of their long story, until they had achieved their great victories"

-Mario puzo

Last night something changed, and it made me think about how a lot of other things have changed also in recent times. Michael Jackson passed away.

He was born a black boy, went on to be one of the greatest if not *the* greatest performer of our time. I have chosen not to google up any information on him, just to go with what I know about the man.
What I personally knew him as - which probably will be minute considering the fact that I was born in the very late 80's and was either not born or still too young to thoroughly enjoy the man at the time I feel he was at his "prime". There are many other people who had personal experiences (maybe not in person) but they did have the privilege of witnessing his prowess of entertaining...his singing, his dancing, his clothes, his ever-changing physical appearance, the crazy stories of the events of his life, his marriages, his pets (we can't forget dear Bubbles)...more recently, his children, the speculations on the circumstances under which they were conceived, the sometimes alarming extent to which he would protect them from public exposure(literally), oh....and the incident....the balcony incident....we remember that as well.

Well this isn't about his life, what went on with him, what he did or didn't do, not about what he looked like or what he was, its about what he meant and what he still means in our hearts and in those of future generations.

I do not believe that if our children in ten or twenty year's time see a picture of him will understand what it was like to hear his music. They will first of all be confused....you show them a picture or a video of ....Thriller, and then you show them a picture of him from his 2009 tour promo. They will find it hard to relate the handsome young man in the first video with the footage of a 50 year old man who looked very *interesting*. Many of our kids will be astonished when perhaps sometime in the teenage years or maybe even later that "Michael Jackson" was actually born black!

I can just imagine the conversation between to friends..."Kunbi" says to "Fifi"..."OMG can you believe that Michael Jackson was actually black?!?! Black?!" Fifi will be just as shocked, perhaps google his name and Biography maybe even dig up some old images of young Michael, they will share it on whatever IM platform they are using at the time....they will both take a second (or more to discuss and more importantly, to think about him), talk about the possible reasons for the drastic change in appearance, talk about their favourite songs of his, they might even share some and compare...one of them might choose to put up some picture of him as her profile picture on the future grandchild of Facebook or twitter, whatever.

Basically, his memory will be alive in us and in our children. We will remember him, they will think about him, imagine what it was like when he was around, ask us questions and I do not doubt they will buy his music, download it, watch his performances. They will keep him alive.

There isn't too much to say on the issue of the death of Michael Jackson, it is a sad event, another sad event in the world. But everyday people die of poverty, people starve to death, people die in wars, people are abused, some are alive with no life, they live lives "working" for others, with no pay, no rights, they are treated the way some of our pets definitely are not treated...their basic needs are not satisfied. They cannot do what they want, only what others force them to do, some people are slaves to others. I'm sure those people would happily trade places with Michael now.

He, like any other human being, had his set of troubles. Those people I refer to who live their lives with no life are not the only ones with problems...the only difference is other people have a particular set of problems, life as we know it comes with its ups and downs, the people I speak of , (I would imagine) do not know what an "up" would even feel like.

Michael is not the only one. Elvis, Fela, Bob, Kurt....I'm sure there are more. They all came and went. Gave what they had to give. Shared with us the gift of ther God-given talent. I'm sure no one out there can deny that each of these legends did in fact give us a gift. I can't think of any other word to use other than "gift". What else can I use to describe how it feels to listen or watch any of these people??

All we can do now is give thanks. To them and to God. They came, they blessed and they left. They were human beings too, they lived normal lives (to some extent) they were real people with real bodies, real talent, real problems....but we can't forget the blessings they got too. The love they felt from their fans, the political influence, the material riches, the legacy they have left, the lives they left their children and finally, their legacy, among a multitude of other things I cannot even begin to fathom.

Fame is not the point here, it is the legacy, the fact that images of them are burned into my mind and millions of other minds and this will not change, they will be familiar to people born now and those yet to be born.

It is a great loss...but we cannot dwell on the fact that he has died. He was a human being too, vulnerable and weak just like everbody else, the inevitable came. But he was different. That's why he is still alive in our minds and our hearts. So to the die-hard fans out there, do not be too sad, pray for his children, his family. They are the ones who knew him as a person, his strengths, his weaknesses, his ins and outs, they loved him as their brother, their father, their child.

It's life...what can we do? But move on and live ours. Remember those worth remembering and that should make them happy wherever they are. That's our gift to them.

Love.x