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?

...And I Still Don't Get It?

“I thought I was the best thing since sliced bread…that was…until she told me I wasn’t. The only person I have to look out for is numero uno…right?!! Very wrong. How did she manage to get all twisted up into my thoughts, my plans, MY LIFE!!! I used to be good, but she makes me wanna be great; and once I hit greatness, I wanna be greater. To call her superwoman would be an understatement. She's just __________ (feel free to fill in the blank with anything you might associate with incredibleness).” -Anonymous

I’m a fairly reasonable person and I think A LOT, but try as I might; I can’t wrap my head around this thing called love. Its mind-bottling (when your thoughts get all bottled up inside your mind)…REALLY! How is it that even the most logical individual can toss their previously mentioned thoughts to the wind, because Mary or Tom makes them feel a certain way. I was talking about a situation with a friend a few days ago. My argument was that if a person knows there is a possibility they could get played, its his or her fault for being there when the inevitable happens. I’m an avid student of history, and I believe it holds valuable insights into the future. Of course, history can’t predict EVERYTHING, but I think you get my point? So, basically, she tells me that when you get emotions involved, reason has very little room to work. And further went on to say that loneliness can drive people to act completely on emotions without concern for the repercussions of their actions. The conversation ended shortly after. But I thought about it. I REALLY thought about it. I digested her words…and she was right. Where would love be if we really thought about all the risks associated with it? If we calculated each action along the way? Would there be less heartbreak? Probably…but at what cost?