Michael Jackson: The Passing of a Legend and a Childhood Friend

The one lesson I have learned in the past week is that life is far too fragile to take for granted.

As I sat with my friend Reggie, just over a week ago, we talked and laughed over the old days in elementary school, our antics back in our neighborhood on the west side of Detroit, and the characters we encountered. It really did seem like yesterday when we were listening to Michael Jackson and he laughed at me trying to mimic his moves.

When I left Regg, I told him I loved him and that he was my brother. Then I exited the hospital.

Three hours later he died.

Now, with the news of Michael also making his transition, it all comes into perspective for me.

Reactions: MJs Death

Fans and media wait outside the UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, Thursday, June 25, 2009. Michael Jackson, the sensationally gifted child star, rose to become the "King of Pop" and the biggest celebrity in the world. He died at age 50 after going into cardiac arrest on June 25 in Los Angeles, California.

Credit : Matt Sayles, AP

LaToya Jackson leaves the UCLA Medical Center following the death of her brother, musical legend Michael Jackson.

Credit : Mark Ralston, AFP/GettyImages

Women embrace outside UCLA Medical Center after learning of the death of Michael Jackson at his home in Los Angeles Thursday, June 25, 2009.

Credit : Reed Saxon, AP

DETROIT - JUNE 25: Fans pay their respects to pop star Michael Jackson at the Motown Historical Museum "Hitsville U.S.A" June 25, 2009 in Detroit, Michigan.

Credit : Bill Pugliano, Getty Images

LOS ANGELES, CA - JUNE 25: Fans of pop star Michael Jackson weep over his death on June 25, 2009 in Los Angeles, California.

Credit : Charley Gallay, Getty Images

The Rev. Al Sharpton speaks to the members of the media about Michael Jackson's death in front of the Apollo Theater, Thursday, June 25, 2009, in New York.

Credit : Louis Lanzano, AP

Berry Gordy, the founder of Motown, pauses for a moment before a news conference held after the death of Michael Jackson in Bel Air section of Los Angeles,Thursday, June 25, 2009.

Credit : Jae C. Hong, AP

LOS ANGELES, CA - JUNE 25: Fans of pop star Michael Jackson sit vigil at Michael Jackson's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, mourning his death on June 25, 2009 in Los Angeles, California.

Credit : Charley Gallay, Getty Images

GARY, INDIANA - JUNE 25: People gather outside the former childhood home of Pop Star Michael Jackson on June 25, 2009 in Gary, Indiana.

Credit : Tasos Katopodis, Getty Images

NEW YORK - JUNE 25: Crowds of fans gather outside of the Apollo Theater to remember pop star Michael Jackson on June 25, 2009 in New York City.

Credit : Cory Schwartz, Getty Images

Michael's music was basically a large part of the soundtrack to my childhood. Whenever my friends and I were hanging out, there was music playing from old Jackson 5 records, or Off the Wall or Thriller, and later Bad. Come to think of it, by 1983 there was no point where you could turn on your radio and not hear a Michael Jackson song playing.

In fact, if you were born between 1962 and 1980, then your early life was probably influenced in some way by Michael Jackson. The truth is the music is what drove us. His music was a bridge between the R&B days of Motown and the hip-hop era.

Regg was right there with the rest of our crew blasting it all out of our distorted boomboxes, practicing our beatboxing and lockpopping. We used to laugh at all of the androgynous pop stars with their long hair and tight pants, who made us dance anyway. Now of the three kings of the early 80s, Michael, Rick James and Prince, only his Royal Badness is left.

Perhaps it can be argued that none of is Icarus, and that if you fly too close to the sun, your wax wings will melt. If that is actually a fitting analogy of Michael's fall off the precipice of fame, I'll leave for you to judge. But it should remind us all that we are human, even if we get bigger than bigger than life the way Michael did.

Looking back on how we saw the King of Pop, the more eccentric Michael became, the more we made fun of him, but ridiculing pop stars is one of the many goofy things teenaged boys do. In a strange way it helped us to bond even more. For us there were no Facebooks, Twitters, Blackberries or iPhones, to lock us down in the technological tempest we find ourselves these days; just me banging on his door asking if he wanted to play one of our noisy games of baseball or football in the street -- if nothing else, that is genuine friendship. But as the years go by, you never really think that it would all come to an end so abruptly.

And your life becomes a little bit more empty for the loss.

So this morning, as I look in the faces of people on the subway shedding tears for their favorite pop star, my sadness is amplified by the loss of my homeboy, who participated in the silliness of those days which I can now clearly say was magic.

RIP MJ
RIP Reggie

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