Michael Jackson’s Memorial & Why I Do What I Do
Michael Jackson’s memorial service ended a few minutes ago and besides the tears and the laughter that I am grateful to have been able to share with everyone else who was watching it on TV or present in the Staples Center in LA, I was reminded, in such a poignant way, why I do what I do for a living…
Michael’s brother, Marlon, told a story about how Michael always wore the same pair of shoes even when he would dress up in disguise in order to go out into the world and do something the rest of us take for granted: to go to a record store, without throngs of people following him. He kept a piece of himself with him when he would cover the rest of his person up in order to have some peace when he was out with the rest of us.
The whole idea of his having to disguise himself breaks my heart.
He wasn’t the first to do it, and he certainly won’t be the last. But there is something that just seems askew to me in a world where I can derive SO much love, energy, happiness, freedom from someone’s music and performances, yet he has to pay for it by losing huge chunks of his own.
I’m a fan, too. So I also really, really do understand the thrill in one’s heart when their idol walks by them on the street-and the compelling desire to connect with them, knowing this moment may be the ONLY moment I ever have to speak to whoever it is.
It’s a well-intended, but ultimately, vicious, vicious cycle. Someone like Michael makes music out of love and inspiration, then I, or any other fan, hears it and becomes inspired and filled with love, and we want to give it back, but because there are SO MANY of us wanting to give it back, it imprisons those like Michael and, instead of filling his life with the same expansiveness we want to give to him, it has the complete opposite effect. Trapping the person who gave their inspiration and their love in the first place and, potentially, stopping the music all together, depending on the stamina of the artist.
It makes me terribly sad-that inspiration, dancing, laughing, singing, connection, and fun could have the effect of diminishing the freedom of the person who was free enough in the first place to express themselves so generously.
To me, it doesn’t seem like a fair exchange.
That’s why I do what I do. Because I LOVE the energy, freedom, inspiration, and LIFE that comes out of artists expressing themselves and sharing it with the rest of us, I want to make sure that, in return, they are as nourished by their life as the rest of us are nourished by theirs.
At times, it seems overwhelming-kind of like having a mission to clean up all the litter in Manhattan with one hand. But I know that ANY moment I can help a client breath a deep and satisfied breath, so fulfilled that they DO feel free, even if their safety necessitates that they have to stay holed up inside, or can only go out in public disguised.
Any time I can help a client do that, I feel like I am giving back a breath of life from the life that I’ve gotten from the art that folks like them have produced that I’ve been lucky enough to experience.
Life, in my mind, should give life.
Freedom and inspiration should give freedom and inspiration. And love should always bring more love. That’s my vision for the world, and this is the part I can play in it.
I guess it’s my way of saying, Michael, I’m sorry we trapped you. Thank you for all of the life you’ve given me (us) all of the times you’ve kept me company in my headphones, through my speakers, on my TV. Your gift enriched my life, and I would have liked to have been able to give that back to you. Instead, you have absolutely reminded me why I’ve chosen to do what I do-the world NEEDS love in all of its forms-we need music, we need dancing, we need art & inspiration. We need people who push the envelope and are exceptional at what they do, to remind us that we never have the limits we think we have. And because we need it, and people like you provide it, I want to do what I can to make all of the unhappy consequences of that-the ridicule, the lack of privacy, the loss of anonymity-I want to do what I can to mitigate those things so that the cycle of love giving only more love can continue without damaging people who are simply expressing their love and giving it to the world.
Thank you, Michael, for the reminder. And thank you for being you.
Tags: Celebrity Coaching, fame, life coaching, Memorial, Michael Jackson, Privacy
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