Thursday, July 2, 2009

The Legacy left behind

I was up early today, more so then normal, and that can be attributed to my new lovey boy wanting let out of his kennel. Went for a short jog and started my day like normal. The Today show was on as I drank my Starbucks.... Snickers got up and came out while the Today show was covering Michael Jackson's death, and Snickers says to me... mom I don't get what the big deal is about this guy. Granny died, Poppy died and they weren't on the news... And this made my heart ache a little, explaining to a child that one person's life was more important then another's to warrant tv coverage isn't in the "how to raise your child manual".

I remember when I first heard the news... my instant reaction was wanting to call my mom and tell her. She loved MJ, and growing up I used to make fun of her for liking him, as i thought he was weird... his dance moves questionable at the level of coolness.... I even picked up my phone and started to scroll through the contact list... when i realized she wasn't there to answer the phone. And then my heart smiled when I realized she knew he was gone before I did, and if I know my mom right she was probably one of the angels there guiding him to heaven.

As Snickers asks me why this guy is such a big deal, my mind flashed back to my initial reaction, and I pulled her onto my lap, turned the laptop on and spent the next 45 minutes showing her why this man was on the news so much. I didn't show her the negative things, because we all have negative things, we have all had a lapse of judgement, and whether you agree he was guilty of the accusations or not, that doesn't matter. What does matter, is the feeling you get when you watch him dance. When you watch him sing, and you see the impact he made on music -- that is undeniable and that is unquestionable. His impact on the music industry shaped what you and i listen to and changed the things our children will hear as well. You can't watch Justin Timberlake dance and not see MJ's impact on his dance style. MJ's talent was amazing, it was inspiring and it makes one awestruck.

So I spent time showing Snickers the FEELING that MJ instilled upon people, and showed her that was why he was on tv. She says, but Granny and Poppy made me feel special, they should be on tv too. She pauses and I wonder how to respond, and then she adds... maybe because they didn't dance and grab their privates all the time they didn't to ge on tv. I laughed at this, and said yea that's probably why. I forget the innocence of children, and forget that they comprehend things so differently then us adults. But I am glad that I got to share with her the wonderful contributions that MJ left in this world. I don't think that children need exposed to the negative side of events like this, and no its not ignoring that those events possibly happened, its allowing a child to grow, see the positive people can do, aspire to make that same contribution, and draw their own conclusions about if they the negative changes the feeling. We watched this video over and over, and i loaded it onto her MP3 and favorite'd it on her computer so she could continue to watch it. It's been fun watching her try to moonwalk through the kitchen... that will be a memory in my heart forever....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKBLxh3u0tM

2 comments:

Kim said...

You're such a good momma! If the WHOLE WORLD knew your mom and your dad, like they knew MJ- then there would be TV coverage about them too, eh? Your dad came in as a close second when he passed away you know. ~at least here in Wickenburg, he did! :)

MRMD_GRL said...

Thanks lovey! He did leave quite the unfillable hole here....