Farewell to the King of Pop: Michael Jackson

It's not funny how easily people turn the table and talk well of a dead man, after haunting his life. So first off, let me confess that I'm not one of those people. Michael's shining star never extinguished in my eyes. He was a genius. He was an American icon, who sadly no longer felt welcomed in his own country. He changed the way people accepted music. He made music come alive. Videos were only still images before Michael came along. Choreography was just a simple one-two step. Michael was the music's version of Martin Luther King. He blended races with his talents, pressing crowds of white and black people together, who were so overwhelmed by his greatness that they felt compelled to cheer instead of scream. Yes, Michael did that! He made peace and love with heart piercing lyrics that made every person, at one time or another, look his or herself in the mirror to seek self correction. Yes, Michael did that, and that is what I chose to remember. Not the scandal. Not the physical transformations. Not the accusations or the lies. Not even the way he spun around the stage wearing that shiny glove. I've rather decided to remember that Michael was a man who worked to use his talent to heal the world, to bring people together, and to bring a smile to the sick. My only wish is that now that he's gone those who believe in his mission would do the same.

Lyric Lounge” Today’s Song Choice: JESSIE POWELL’s “It it Over?”







Lyrics:

Your love is as strong,
As the widest river is long
And here stands the man the man too afraid
To jump in so you thought it should end.

Those pretty eyes, never lie
You say it's over, but your eyes deny
You so in control, that's what you think
Why are you fooling yourself, baby
Your not fooling me

chorus:

Is it over
you and I
are you truly better off without me there by you side
is it over
you and I (something in your eyes)
something in your eyes is telling me not to say goodbye
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Now Friends, just between you and me, tell me that you’ve been there. Women? Men? All of you with a beating heart, at some point in your lives have been intertwined in this song, I know it. Some of you may have already quoted portions of the lyrics to your love interest, or are thinking about doing so in a moment’s time. If you are seriously considering ending your relationship because of "commitment issues", I beg you to STOP, read on, and then make your decision.

Women: I’m certain that many of you have told a man that you love that the relationship between you is over, or maybe you are thinking about telling this man. I don't perceive to know your reasons. Although if, by chance, your reasons resemble those in the song, and thereby you are willing to denounce the relationship because you sense that your man isn't as fully commited to your "us" as you are, I must ask, "How do you know? When you feel his lack of commitment to your relationship has forced you to use every bit of your energy to walk away from him, all the while knowing that just a magnetic look from him would real you back, tell me "what are you really expecting?"


Men: I have no doubt that you’ve heard some sista say that your relationship was over, but that look in her eye told you that she was waiting for you to change her mind, or better yet pleading for you to change her course.

We’ll friends, I’ve been there once or twice, and oddly on both sides. There was once a time, very long ago, when I was so deep into a brotha’s existence that even the stank of his gym shoes excited my senses. Back then, I had vowed to wrap myself around his ugliest as tightly as I did his goodness because that’s the way I measured love. When he didn’t match my ways, I figured that he didn’t match my love. So, of course, I said, “It’s over.”

I can’t help but recall how fast I said it, “it’s over,” and how quickly I regretted it. Although, I can’t help but remember how determined I was to keep a stone cold face, as if it legitimized my words, while I turned away from him ever so slowly, anxiously waiting for him to change my mind (by vowing to match my ways). At the same time, the man I once loved hard enough to cook him a full meal off the pennies in my purse, later told me that he felt that I considered his love not good enough, and that he gave me his magnetic look knowing the bond between us could not last.

And he was right? One look was all it took, and we were together again. As time passed, I once again felt he didn’t measure my level of commitment and so again I screamed, “It’s over!” He gave me the look again and I ran back to him on an empty promise. Then we did this dance for years, back and forth, until neither of us could stand the music.

No more words. There was no need. It was over and not because we didn’t love each other, but rather because we couldn’t understand how the other loved. He couldn’t see that my love had chosen to reveal itself in the things I accepted (the smelly socks, the video game obsession, the dirty plates that he threw into the sink without hesitation, as if by gender cleaning up his mess was my duty). On the other hand, as he later revealed to me, I couldn’t see that he didn’t measure his love by the things he accepted, but rather by those things he willingly sacrificed without regret (nights out with the boys, the numerous amounts of women that, in casual conversation, would reveal to him how single they are and how lonely they get on rainy nights). His confession led me to the realization that ‘all the time that I wanted him to wrap himself around my ugliness as tightly as he embarrassed my goodness, he was doing just that, but in his own way. He had fully committed to all of me in a way that I couldn’t understand. In a way, most women can’t perceive, which often leads them to say those three fatal words, “It’s over,” which would usually be followed by, “cause you don’t love me the way I deserve to be loved,” or some other nonsense.

I know now that, for the most part, women and men have different views on how to love. Therefore, there is no sensible way to truly measure how much another person loves us. Not when we are using our own measuring tool, one that may be vastly different than the one our luv is holding. It’s like yardstick to liter, how can one measure the same object or emotion in their respective ways and expect the result to be justly calculated an proven equal. NO, instead the reading will reflect and “error,” and sadly many men and women, who were or are deep in love , will take that reading and run away with it.