RANDOM THOUGHTS ON THE PASSING OF A SUPERSTAR

For some reason, the death of Michael Jackson has left me sad. I always liked his music but can't say I was ever really a "fan". I remember when I was a kid (I am a year younger than Michael Jackson) I loved the Jackson Five (and the Osmonds!! How's that for dating myself??).

I just find his whole life to have been so sad. So unbelievably sad. I remember seeing a documentary on him on the TV once where they had opened a supermarket in the middle of the night and Michael was so excited about shopping! He'd never been to a supermarket???? How lonely must it be for you not to be able to walk out in public? To sit on the beach and watch the waves? To go to Walmart and buy towels!! How sad must it be when over and over again you were betrayed by the people you thought were your friends? How sad must it have been to always wonder if someone was really your friend or just wanted to be close to "Michael Jackson"?

A few years ago I went to Graceland at the urging of my brother Albert. Albert has always been an Elvis fan and had described his trip to Graceland as a "religious experience". Granted, I thought that was a little wierd (even for Albert) but I loved Elvis and thought it would be really cool to visit Graceland.

I left Graceland feeling depressed and sad for the Elvis. His life was so lonely; so closed off from the rest of the world. That is what crossed my mind when Michael died. How incredibly sad their lives were. It is so ironic that these two wonderful men - men who truly cared about the world that surrounded them - who wanted to make the world better - should die so tragically. I don't think Michael was ever really happy -- he was never allowed to be a child and his eternal search for that lost childhood led to so much heartache for him.

Was he a child molester? Was he the pervert that the media wanted to make him out to be? I don't know. There's no way I could confirm or deny those allegations. But my heart negates those rumors. I truly believe that he saw in children what he had missed out in life and wanted so desperately to capture for himself.

Was he odd??? Absolutely. Was his desperate quest for physical transformation extreme? I don't think anyone could deny that. But isn't it also true that those things happen when someone truly does not like themselves? Besides - who cares if he wanted to change his appearance? How many women don't do the same thing? Joan Rivers being the most blaring example? Why aren't there comments about how "strange" SHE is? Because she's NOT - she just wants to look younger. Michael wasn't either -- he just wasn't happy as Michael and wanted to see someone else when he looked in the mirror.

Michael Jackson was a superstar surpassed by none. He was an incredible singer, dancer and human being. HE IS DEAD NOW. I really wish everyone would just leave him alone and let him, FINALLY, rest from the microscope he lived under all his life.