Today I had to do a presentation on a subject of my own choosing as a part of a shool project. While other students chose to talk about women's rights and race discrimination, subjects that are very important, but also, subjects that many of them don't have the slightest idea about (except what they read form Wikipedia), I chose to do a presentation about a man, a legend which inspired me from the first time I layed eyes on him and continues to inspire me even today.
His name: Michael Jacskon
I'm not going to talk about him like I did in my presentation. My presentation was good and I got an A, but it was about Michael life, from his early days in Jacksons 5 to his unfortunate death.
No, I am going to talk about the affect Michael had on me.
I remember watching the news, where the TV host was announcing that the night before, on the 25th of August, Michael Jackson, The King of Pop, passed away. The whole world was watching the news with me and Michael's death, as well as his life, affected many people around the world. Web sites started to crash down form user overload and musicians everywhere exspressed their sorrow...
And there I was, a 9 year old boy watching TV clips of Michael Jackson performing and dancing like I have never seen anyone do before. The way he moved was so specific and beautiful... I was hooked instantly. And while the whole world was in pain because of his death, I felt inspired by him.
Of course, the first thing I did was going on youtube and watching his performances over...and over...and over again. I just couldn't get enough of him. In that time there were no tutorials to teach you how to do the Moonwalk or any other of his moves so I watched them a hundred times over, slowing them down trying to figure out how is he doing that. While I was doing that, I started to gain something I noticed just recently. You see, while I was watching his videos and learning how to dance I acquired a sense of pourpose. I acquired a sense of having a goal. That is what Michael did for me. He gave me the habit of pursuing something and achieving it. A habit that will help me improve myself in life.
Needless to say that, eventualy, I learned how to do the Moonwalk and other moves. I was so proud you would't believe my happines. But I didn't stop there and that's what's so important. I started to do other things like playing guitar, learning new things and achieveng their goals... and I will never stop learning and improving.
So, with that said, I want to thank Michael for all the inspiration he brought to me and probably to millions of people around the world. His moves and music will never be forgotten and he will always be in my heart...
Love,
Sea-Boo