greatness.

Michael Jackson's death on Thursday from what is believed to be a fatal mix of prescription drugs has shocked the world.  Invincible wasn't just the title of his last studio album, but also how most of the world saw him.  How else can we explain the treatment he received from the media, which is ultimately a placeholder for 'us'? We pile on because he can take it.  Nevermind that a 50 year old man has been working for forty-one years, bearing his soul - a soul rife with the insecurities that even the smallest amount of celebrity amplifies.  HIStory vividly illustrated the exacting toll of greatness, and how unwilling almost all of us are to bear it.  This part is indisputable - he was the greatest entertainer there ever was.  

I remember a retrospective video about him that I used to watch when I was a kid.  There was a montage of Michael, wearing his various military-themed outfits, running ahead of a platoon of uniformed bodyguards from around the world.  The King of Pop as Field Marshall!  That he chose to entertain is perhaps the loss of whatever other field he could have gotten in - Joe Jackson permitting of course. 

Wait, you're probably saying.  What does this have to do with M

uhammad Ali? 

Nothing.  But when you lose an icon, you make space to recognize any and everywhere. 

That said, here's Michael with The Greatest and his wife, Veronica Porsche taken in the 1970s. You will be missed.