Five Lessons We Can Learn From Michael Jackson's Death

Watching the news coverage of Michael Jackson’s death reminds me of the hostess party scene from the movie Goodfellas where one of the mafia wives says we always talk about them like they’re saints once their gone.

Michael Jackson is dead and there is nothing that can bring him back but the one “redeeming” thing we can take from his death is the lessons we all can learn from it.

1)Unless you love yourself it doesn’t matter how many other people do. This is a man who hated who he was and what he looked like so much he many actually hold the world record for plastic surgeries. No matter how many people packed into a stadium or lined the streets to see him he never liked what he saw in the mirror.

2)Never buy into your own hype. Adoration is more powerful drug than Heroin. When you receive it to the degree he did it’s easy to believe not only do you deserve it but are entitled to it. After the Thriller album he no place to go but down. Very few artists will ever have a success like Thriller and no one has ever had a second one. Fleetwood Mac never had another Rumors and Peter Frampton never had another Comes Alive. There is nothing wrong with dreaming big but you only set yourself up for intolerable pain when you chase the impossible.

3)No matter if you get them from a Dr. or Dealer DRUGS WILL KILL YOU. He wasn’t the first person become an addict and by no means will he be the last. It’s difficult to perform when you’re so stoned you can’t lift your head off a pillow. If you have a drug problem there are many places to go for help call one now.

4)Keep your sexual appetites to yourself. There is an old saying if one person calls you a horse you can ignore it if enough people say it it’s time to buy a saddle. I don’t care how many public denials he made about the molestation charges, He would deny it with a statement and then prove it with his actions. The only reason he won the criminal trial is the jury hated the accuser’s family worse than they hated what he did. If you suffer from a perversion get help don’t flaunt it.

5)At the end of the day no matter how many people know and appreciate your work you are just a person and are open to the same temptations and downfalls as the rest of us and you can pay the highest price there is for it. Your life.