Remembering Michael Jackson

The news was and is shocking and sad. Michael Jackson is dead. Not only is it shocking because we weren't prepared for it, as we were for the loss of Farrah Fawcett just hours before or Ed McMahon who at eighty-two had already lived a full life, but it is sad because Michael Jackson was only fifty years old.

But he sure packed a lot into those years. First, there was that immense genius and talent. Who else but a genius would have conceived of the video for "Thriller," which was not only a music video but really a movie short that helped launch the MTV network? And who else but a genius would have come up with the "Moonwalk" or some of his other creations that became part of the pop lexicon? Though it should come as no surprise because it was clear from his early appearances on the "Ed Sullivan Show" that music and dance were part of his soul.

It was his genius, the ability to move as if he were walking on air, and to take the mundane and combine it in new and unusual ways that catapulted him to fame and made him stay there even amidst all the controversies in his life.

And there were plenty. First, there were the molestation charges brought about after he hosted slumber parties at his house with young boys. Of course, he should have known better, and common sense should dictate that a grown man who invites young boys to sleep over at his house is going to be headed for trouble, but because Jackson probably wanted to relive parts of his childhood, as is evidenced by naming his ranch "Neverland" after Peter Pan, the other boy who also never grew up, it probably made sense to him. Not for a moment do I think that Michael Jackson was a pedophile who intentionally tried inflicting harm on children, but one who wanted to fill in the missing pieces of his childhood.

Then there were his financial problems, his failed marriages and the incident where he wrapped a blanket around his own son and dangled him from a hotel balcony. (What was he thinking?)

When all is said and done, he probably won't be remembered for any of those things. He was acquitted of the molestation charges, he was planning on going on tour next month and his children, who are reportedly grieved, did not seem to hate him or seem otherwise maladjusted.

It takes a rare talent to trump the passing of two other celebrities within the same week, a rigged election in Iran and another one of Obama's proposals. But Michael Jackson could and did because he was a larger-than-life talent who brought music and joy to this world, and he will be missed.