Michael Jackson died?  What?  Are you sure?  That can’t be.  This was my reaction when a friend told me last night.  Then he said, “You’ll always remember it was me who told you that Michael Jackson died.”  What a claim to fame!

What is it about the death of a celebrity that really gathers people together and gets us all in the mood for reflecting?  It’s not as if we ever spent time in the presence of that person, maybe a concert or 2, but that’s about it  And they will always be to us as we knew them,  in their music or movies.  We can still pop in a DVD and see them looking the same in their movie, or slip in a disk to hear their familiar song.

So why did Michael Jackson’s death stir up so much stuff for me?  I instantly started reminiscing about racing in front of our tv every time the Thriller music video came on MTV.  They never played it enough, so my sisters and I took every chance we could get to practice the crazy moves of those monster looking people.  MTV was still such a new phenomenon.  And then there was the signed poster of him I got at the mall and push pinned to my bedroom wall.  I looked at him every night before bed and his curly black greasy hair was the sight I woke up to every morning.

Michael Jackson didn’t only impact my generation.  I was recently at a Life Coaching workshop and the facilitator who is older than 60 played her Ipod playlist for all of us to wind down after class.  We all started dancing, and wouldn’t you know it, but “Beat It” came on!  We were all laughing, dancing and bonding to the memories of Michael Jackson’s music.

Perhaps what I’m feeling, and what you may notice within yourself is that it’s almost as if a piece of me died along with him.  It’s almost like these people that are celebrities are supposed to always be static, because that ties us to our past.  It helps to define our identity and our culture.

Whatever it is, it reminds me that change and cycles and non-attachment are all forces in our universe that we must wrap our minds around somehow.  But today I wish to yearn and doubt and tomorrow I’ll appreciate.

Would love to hear your reflections and Memories…Please leave a comment below.