Death Of a Legend – R.I.P. MJ

1958-2009

June 25th, 2009: The Day The Music Died

As you all know today, June 25th 2009, the world truly lost one of its greatest.  Some may say I am being melodramatic, but the reality is that there is no other single individual that has had as big as an impact on the world as Michael Jackson. You can go to any city, town, village anywhere in the world and they have heard of Michael, that is the scope of who he was.

I would like to point out that I’m not here to argue the merits of his life as I am sure many would have a thing or two to say about that.  But I would like to take this opportunity to give my respect to a man whom I believe to be the Greatest Entertainer to have ever lived.

In addition, I would like to talk about another matter that I feel is more relevant now than ever.  Michael’s life in many ways seem far too familiar to us living in Toronto.  Let me clarify, we in Toronto seem to be no better than the reporters and paparazzi that fed off of his success and more importantly all of Michael’s failures.  We, like the media seem to cherish the idea of seeing our local talent fail.  We thrive on knocking down home grown talent while praising the works of individuals across the border.  We are quick to judge those that do make it big, but condemning them to be “sell outs”.  We ridicule those that struggle to represent us by suggesting that they are not good enough.  Why is it that we only appreciate the people and things around us once they are gone?  Much like Michael , we helped build his career up, and then relished in seeing it all come crumbling down.  I found it so ironic while watching the news, hearing the same people that were poking fun of this legend to turn around and hail him as the greatest.  Does that mentality sound familiar?  We aren’t called the screw face capital for no reason.

I appeal to everyone that has taken the time to read this, to truly look in yourself and realize that in order to change the mindset of a generation we need only to change our own disposition.