Life

If you read my 7 Meme blog, you might remember that I grew up in the South Bronx. What I did not reveal in the blog was that my family was only one of two Hispanic families living in the building where I lived. All of the other families were African American. Therefore, I grew up listening to Motown music and knew who the Jackson 5 were by the time I was 8 years old and in 4th grade.

During that time, the Jackson 5 were the most talked about and admired music group in my elementary school and in the neighborhood where I lived. All of the kids in my class and I knew the names of all the boys in the group by heart. Everyone would bring magazines that were popular at the time to school so they could share articles of the amazing Jackson 5. All of the boys in my school wanted to dress like the Jackson 5 and all of the children wanted to dance like them.

Informal street dances were very common in my neighborhood at the time and the Jackson 5 music would be played frequently. To the kids in my neighborhood, the Jackson 5 were our heroes and there was nothing that would make us happier then dancing to one of their songs.

I was on a European vacation when I heard the breaking news of Michael Jackson’s death. I turned on my cruise ship room TV and there on CNN was the headline informing everyone of his death. I read the headline aloud. My 2 sons and husband were shocked. The first thing my oldest son said was, ” I wish I could post on my forums right now”. I responded, “I wish I was able to Tweet right now”.

I guess our reaction was typical since I read on Google news later that the Internet was overwhelmed with people online trying to get information about his death and communicating with others about it: http://tinyurl.com/lqgfsc I also read, that Google thought they were being attacked by all the searches for Michael Jackson: http://tinyurl.com/mmmvlo

Well, we were not able to go online along with the rest of the world because we had pre-paid for an expensive all day excursion which was non refundable so we proceeded with our original plans for the day.

Since then, the news of his recent death has profoundly effected me in many ways. I have found myself crying on and off and talking about him to anyone that will listen. I have been listening to his music on YouTube, downloading many of his music videos from itunes for my iPod touch and reading everything I can about his life and death.

I was just telling my family at dinner time tonight that many people all over the world are grieving for him right now. These are people of all different colors, nationalities, and religions. That it was amazing and rare for one person to cause so much international grief and manage to break down so many barriers that keep people who are different from communicating with each other. I also mentioned to them that I wished I lived closer to LA than I do as I would love to attend the public memorial that is being planned for him some time next week : http://tinyurl.com/muygjm

As I was talking to my family, I realized that there is magic and power in music. That beautiful music has the ability to make people happier when they are already feeling good and lift people’s spirits who are feeling down. Hence, moments listening to and or dancing to great music, create powerful memories in people’s lives and a connection with the person who wrote and or sang the songs. So I guess that music is really an extraordinary universal language.

So Michael, if you can read this from the beyond, I want you to know that you will live in my heart forever. I will never forget you or your music. Thanks for lifting my spirits on days when I did not think I could make it through. Thanks for making me feel happier when I was already feeling good. Also, regardless of what people may say about you, I have always felt you were 100% innocent of any wrong doing and had such a pure heart and great spirit. As far as I am concerned, you have always radiated both inner and outer beauty. I hope that you rest in peace and perhaps someday, I will meet you on the other side.

Here is a picture of Michael Jackson taken by Time’s Magazine in May of 1986 and provided free to the public for non commercial use. He is attending an awards ceremony where he got a certificate from the Guinness Book of World Records for being the person that has given the most money to children charities:

Here is a list of my favorite inspirational books. All of these books are about surviving terrible true lifetime periods, seeing better days in the end, becoming stronger human beings because of these terrible events and are very educational to read. I think about these true life stories when I am going through hard times in my life and find hope that my life events are temporary and I will see better days.

1. Manchild in the Promised Land by Claude Brown. This is a book I read as a child. Since I was also growing up in a similar ghetto environment as Claude and he became a successful lawyer, it inspired me to dream big like he did. I did pretty well as I am now a successful college professor these days.

2. Mayada, Daughter of Iraq by Jean Sasson. I recently read this one and I now appreciate this country so much more. Whenever I get stressed out these days, I think of what she went through and the many people in Iraq and all of a sudden my life looks and feels so much better.

3. A Child Called “It”: One Child’s Courage to Survive by Dave Pelzer. This one also gives me lots of hope when things are going wrong in my life. It also re-affirms that people can overcome terrible past life events, even abuse and still become productive members of society. He wrote this book to make people more aware of what the signs of child abuse are and where to get help.

4. Until Death Do Us Part: My Struggle to Reclaim Colombia by Ingrid Betancourt This was the most inspiring book I have ever read. Wow, Ingrid is a real life hero. This women did so much to make things better for her country and put this priority ahead of her marriage and children. She was close to winning a presidential election when she finished writing this book.

Epilogue:

After this book was published, Ingrid got abducted in real life on Feb. 23, 2002 by a political terrorist group in Columbia and still remains in captivity to this day. I think of her and the family she left behind every day.

Update:

Ingrid and 14 other hostages were rescued on July, 2nd, 2008. The Colombian military tricked the terrorist group into giving up the hostages and at the same time, took two terrorist camp leaders with them and turned them over to the Colombian police. I am just ecstatic about this!!

5. Stolen Lives: Twenty Years in a Desert Jail by Malika Oufkir . Malika was almost royalty but one day something went very wrong and her and her entire family were thrown into an old castle which was converted as a prison never to be seen or heard from again. Fortunately, a member of her family escapes and thus this book was written. Because of this book, a lot has changed as far as how Morroco now treats its criminals.

6. Escape from Slavery: The True Story of My Ten Years in Captivity and My Journey to Freedom in America by Francis Bok This is a very inspiring book about the atrocities that are happening to people in Sudan and the story of a person who escaped. Because of Francis Bok, the United States is now aware that slavery has never ended in that part of the world and is doing something to help.

7. Sickened : The Memoir of a Munchausen by Proxy Childhood by Julie Gregory, This story was so educational. It explains everything about this terrible mental disease and why it is so hard for doctors to notice when these cases are happening. Again, this is a story about a survivor that is now trying to change things for the better, trying to bring more awareness about this condition so that people can intervene and hopefully save more children from being victims of this syndrome.

So, what are some of your favorite inspirational books? Have any one of them inspired you to live your life differently?

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Ode to Michael Jackson

My Favorite Inspirational Books