One of my fondest memories from my ninth-grade school excursion is dancing on the bus to Michael Jackson's music along with my friends.
Though I had heard his music growing up, I was never a big fan, and almost everything I had read about him in the media was negative. So I wasn't particularly moved when I heard about his untimely death in 2009.
Over the past few months, I’ve been exploring some of his music from the late 1960s to the 1980s, and I discovered many great songs that I had never heard before. It also made me curious to learn more about him.
Here are a few lessons we can learn from the life of one of the most controversial and misunderstood geniuses of the 20th century.
Here are some excerpts from Jackson’s autobiography, Moonwalk (1988):
“I believe we are powerful, but we don't use our minds to their full capacity. Your mind is powerful enough to help you attain whatever you want."
"Ever since I was a little boy, I had dreamed of creating the biggest-selling record of all time. I remember going swimming as a child and making a wish before I jumped into the pool. I’d make my wish, then I’d dive into the water. I’d say to myself, ‘This is my dream. This is my wish,’ every time before I’d dive into the water.
Jackson's album Thriller was released in 1982. By the end of 1983, it had become the best-selling album of all time, with more than 32 million copies sold worldwide. Even today, more than 40 years later, it remains the best-selling album in music history, with over 70 million copies sold.
Michael Jackson lived almost his entire life in the public spotlight. However, he grew up extremely insecure about his appearance. His father frequently mocked him, telling him he was ugly and had a big nose. Those words left Michael deeply scarred. He later revealed in an interview:
“I had pimples so badly it used to make me so shy. I used not to look at myself. I’d hide my face in the dark. I wouldn’t want to look in the mirror. My father teased me, and I just hated it, and I cried every day.”
After undergoing plastic surgery in the 1980s, many accused Jackson of altering his appearance because he did not want to be a Black man.
But the truth was that he was suffering from a skin disorder called vitiligo, which was later confirmed by his autopsy. Vitiligo causes depigmentation of parts of the skin, resulting in white patches on the body.
Michael Jackson was one of the most famous people on the planet during the 1980s and 1990s. Here is what he had to say about fame and success:
"Success definitely brings loneliness. People think that you are lucky, that you have everything. They think you can go anywhere and do anything, but that's not the point. One hungers for the basic stuff."
"People think they know me, but they don't. Not really. Actually, I am one of the loneliest people on this earth. I cry sometimes because it hurts. It does. To be honest, I guess you could say that it hurts to be me. Even at home I am lonely. I sit in my room sometimes and cry; it's so hard to make friends... I used to walk the streets looking for people to talk to.
Jackson would engage in philanthropic and humanitarian efforts even when he was a teenager and part of the Jackson Five. He was extremely sensitive to people’s pain and suffering, according to many who knew him personally. It deeply hurt him to see other people, especially children, suffer.
Commenting on Jackson's humanitarian efforts, journalist Frédéric Taddeï remarked, “During the peak of his career, Michael did more for people and the world than any other superstar. His contributions were so great that they would have put many governments in big industrial countries to shame.”
I’ve read about the lives of many musicians and artists over the years, but nobody’s story has touched me emotionally like his. Michael Jackson was human, just like the rest of us, and he had his share of flaws. But the more I read about his deep compassion and the massive efforts he took to make the world a better place, the more I am amazed that a person like him existed on our planet.
