An ugly rumor...

I heard an ugly rumor today, July 7th. Somebody told me that Michael Jackson died. In fact, the dirty liar said with a straight face, he died June 25th... almost two weeks ago. If that is true, wouldn't we have heard about it by now? You would think the media might make small mention of it.

OK... so I did know. Is there anyone on this planet who didn't? Today I heard an NBC announcer say this was probably the biggest death ever in terms of people watching and caring... more than one billion will be watching this funeral... almost 20 percent of the world population.

Now Michael (as I affectionately call him) is a world figure... and arguably one of its most talented and charismatic when performing. He is a cult figure perhaps deserving of that ranking... talented, troubled, eccentric, weird, etc. But is he worth 80-percent of the news for weeks/months after his death? The media says yes. The public says yes. So who am I to argue.

In fact, a Toronto Argonaut player of the Canadian Football League was penalized 30-yards, an almost unheard of penalty, for pretending to lie in a casket after a touchdown, as a '"tribute to Michael Jackson." Whoa Nellie!

What I do cry for, however, is perspective. MJ (no, not the baskeball player) is huge... but I don't want him greater that the soldier who gives his life for me, the parent who sacrifices everything for a child, the stranger who donates a kidney for a person in need... you get the idea. The 'lesser heros' are really pretty special and their loss mostly unsung (literally and figuratively). Almost all of those 'lesser heros' had it harder than the talented and rich MJ... And they paid a price that is no less than, a sadness no less sad than, a loss no less profound than the King of Pop. And they are all desperately missed by those who know and love them, and appreciated by all.

Everyone has a place in this world... but some seem to have a higher place than others just because of fame. Remember... it only seems that way. It wasn't my rule that each of us has only one death... but none of these deaths is more special from any other... one is one. Amen.