Can You Judge a Book By Its Cover?

Watching the Michael Jackson memorial service this afternoon, I heard a couple of phrases that caught my attention; "Innocent until proven guilty...[and]...wasn't nothin' strange about your daddy!!!" It seems as though the United States had a love hate relationship with Michael. Even in his death, we still see this being played out. I even recall growing up how we used to make jokes about this man, who we respected so much on the one hand, and slapped with our criticisms on the other. And what gave us the right to make these hasty judgments against someone we didn't even know outside of his stage presence?

I may never know, or understand Michael's experience in life; his concerns; his struggles; his thought process. But...do I really need to?

I believe Smokey Robinson said in best in his song, "Tears of a Clown." How many times do we wear a smile for the public, when we're torn to pieces on the inside? When Michael got on stage, we never cared about what his hurts were, his pain, his health. All we wanted was to see him entertain us...and that's just what he did. In spite of the media and public accusations. I know I put on a smile when I go out at times , but can you imagine doing that for the entire world? He never backed down. Whether we loved him or hated him, he kept giving us all he had.

What makes us so righteous that we feel we can scrutinize this man, regardless of what the legal system has determined? And maybe his issue with vitiligo was a blessing? It may have helped him surpass the issue of color, but no matter how successful he was, it showed us he was human. Michael was just a man...but he had a purpose.

When you look at the man, or woman, in the mirror, what do you see?