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Go With Grace
Posted by | Posted in Goings On | Posted on June 25, 2009
I had this poster hanging over my bed in 1983. I was a nine year old Jehovah's Witness girl. Michael Jackson was a 25 year-old Jehovah's Witness man. As far as I was concerned, that was all the proof I needed that he and I were meant to be together forever, literally. I practiced kissing on this poster, and I wore the lips right off him. (I hope my mother never figured that out.)
He left the JWs before I did, and while I was still a Witness I felt a real sense of sadness about him. And then when I left, I continued feeling a sadness for him because there was so much ugliness in the media about him. I'm not saying he didn't do the things he was accused of, and I wouldn't defend him, but it's always sad to see a former hero laid low. I can't imagine that he wasn't purely messed up in the head; how can a little bitty kid who is raised in such a restrictive religion, but then is exposed to all these things he's told to repudiate possibly turn out normal? Add in the fame and fortune and the inability to have privacy or normal relationships, and you've practically made a recipe for a screwed-up human being.
So now the King of Pop has died. My mind is just having a hard time believing that he's cold and dead on a slab somewhere. I feel terribly for the children he left behind, and hope so much that they can somehow gain normalcy now.
Go with grace, Michael. Thank you for what you gave me.
Casey, I had the exact same poster and kissed it daily as well.
I feel horrible about this. I might be the only person in the world who believes it's possible he did not do the horrible things he was accused of. But either way, he had such a horrible childhood and was obviously mentally and emotionally disturbed. I hope he's at peace now.
I had that picture on a folder. He was beautiful to this 5th grader.
I had that poster too! Only I was a senior in high school.
Which is to say, that I didn't actually KISS mine.
Not that there's anything wrong with that.
My oldest daughter had that poster and adored him, too.
I've said elsewhere that I truly believe he is like my stepsons...they are mentally about 12 years old (ages 19 and 22).
So wanting to hang out with young boys fits his mental age. Doing weirdo things that boys that age normally do...it would have been strange for the boys themselves because in their minds he was supposed to be a "man".
Everyone expected that he was a man, mostly due to his age and his talents. But did you ever listen to him talk, ever? He was a child. And I am with you, Donna...whether he did anything weird or not, we'll never really know because his life was so fantastically weird in every way.
I had Farrah's poster over my bed. I didn't wear the lips off her with kissing, but I spent a fair amount of time trying to sort out if her hair really had "Sex" spelled in it.