1958-2009I'm not a very emotional person, but as I watched Michael Jackson's Memorial from my house, as soon as they rolled out his golden casket, I was pulled in and I broke down.
Looking back at this moving memorial that celebrated his life, it was nearly impossible to not have tears in your eyes when Brooke Shields honored her friend by reliving heart-felt memories, as she joked about Michael's glove asking "Whats up with the glove?" and comparing him not to a King, but to The Little Prince, one of my personal favorite books, where she read a passage. "What moves me so deeply about this sleeping prince is his loyalty to a flower--the image of a rose shining within him like a flame within a lamp, even when he's asleep... And I realized he was even more fragile than I thought. Lamps must be protected. A gust of wind can blow them out."
Rev. Al Sharpton addressed Michael's kids during his eulogy by saying "I want his children to know there was nothing strange about your daddy, it was strange what your daddy had to deal with." Which prompted a standing ovation, Michael's daughter Paris being one of the first to stand. But what is undeniably the most powerful words of the memorial came from that very same little girl, which before that moment had never spoken to the public, Michael's family lowered the microphone so his daughter could say her final goodbye to her father. “Ever since I was born, daddy has been the best father you could ever imagine,” she said, while choking back tears. “I just want to say I love him so much.”
