it's so hard to say goodbye to yesterday.

i know, i know. that's boys to men, not michael jackson, but it was fitting. 

i'm not very funny tonight. 

i guess the above statement implies that i think i'm funny at other times, which is debatable, but any humor found in the below will solely be due to sarcasm & without much, if any, thought. 

however, i do feel the need to address the death of michael jackson. you know, for when my kids read my blog from circa 2009 and want to know what i thought about this or that. he is the king of pop, i own his music & i love it. free willy was actually my very first CD. please don't quit reading my blog because of that. i was a small child and i bought willy along with ace of bass, so that should redeem any lost points. 

MJ's death is sad. he is a legend and will be forever. 

his life was marked by confusion and pain, but he loved music and devoted his life to it. 

obviously, the world has been shocked by his passing. twitter apparently even crashed yesterday after the news came out. my friend, emmy, who is in LA for the summer reported chaos in LA minutes after the word spread. the theology of his music, inspired me as a third grader to believe that we could heal the world. there were many a slumber parties spent learning thriller from VCR tapes. he reminded us that it doesn't matter if we're black or white. ABC is probably being played at k-west right this second and the list goes on of how his music has been woven into my life. many of us would have at least one of this songs on our life soundtrack. without a doubt, MJ's music will live on and you better believe i'll keep doing thriller. 

but on another note, i hope that in light of his death & remembering his talent that we can remember the importance of loving people. even if they are broken, messy, and dysfunctional; which MJ was. but it's in moments like this that i hear the terrible things that people can say and my heart hurts. it makes me see that we do such a terrible job of speaking life & loving people in their brokenness. i am guilty of it, too. we should be people who love. who speak life. and who grieve the loss of a life. death sucks and i am so thankful to know that it doesn't have the last word. maybe michael never figured out how to heal the world. but he brought people together with a love for music and for that i am thankful. 

"if you wanna make the world a better place, take a  look at yourself, & make the change..."