Michael Jackson

It is always so shocking when a celebrity that one has grown up with dies. No matter how or the circumstance. It wasn't enough that early in the day, Farrah Fawcett had succumbed in her heartbreaking battle against cancer. Her chronicles of her struggle was brave and courageous. I grew watching "Charlie's Angels" who didn't? She was really beautiful. The true love story between her and Ryan O'Neal is touching and poignant. And so when on the heels of her death came the shocking news that Michael Jackson had died I know a collective gasp could be heard around the world and in a moment, time stood still just like those other gut wrenching days of past; 9/11, the death of Princess Diana, the assassination of President Kennedy and Bobby Kennedy.

Although I was very young, I remembered being in Hawaii when news came of President Kennedy being shot. In elementary school, we were on a field trip to the sugar cane factory when the news hit. Everyone on the bus started to cry, first the adults and then the kids. I guess the kids were crying because the adults were crying. When Bobby Kennedy was shot, I remembered I was sleeping on couch in the living room in California (something was wrong with my bed and it was getting fixed). I remembered that my dad came in and turned on the TV set. Never mind that it was late and he had the news on, I knew something bad had happened. Strange names like Sirhan Sirhan and Jack Ruby filled the room.

Years later, on 9/11, I was getting ready for work when my husband came into the bathroom and said that a plane had crashed into one of the twin towers in NYC. We lived in Carlsbad, California then, I remembered I watched Good Morning America as I ate breakfast while they were showing the tower on fire. I remembered I had the news on in my car on my way to work in La Jolla, when Peter Jennings on the news had said another plane had crashed into the other tower, I was like what was going on? And then Peter Jennings, his voice incredulous said, the build has collapsed? I couldn't imagine what he was talking about. As I got into my office, all the TV's were on, people were standing around watching, shock and horror on their faces. We were all told to go home and so we went, sad and terrified.

And so, I know this too will be a day that will freeze in time as Pop Icon, Michael Jackson leaves this world. It will be one of those things of where were you when. I think I heard it best when someone on TV said, was it Hemingway that said, "Show me a hero and I'll show you a tragedy."

No matter what the world thought of him, his bizarre life, his strange actions, he will always and forever remain an American Icon.-Single D