That said, I am not the kind of fan who would waste money on airline tickets to attend Jackson's funeral or stay out in the street all night just to see his casket go by. I would rather wait to visit his grave in a few years when the fever dies down, if I am in the city where he is buried.

a mother's grief

But I can understand a mother's grief. With all the hoopla, we tend to forget that the most notorious criminal who ever lived has/had a mother. Our own Easton Lee in his critically acclaimed The Rope and the Cross examined the lives and feelings of the mothers of Jesus Christ and Judas Iscariot at the crucifixion. At the time, I thought, 'Wow', the two men who were so vastly different had something in common: a mother's love.

So stop and ponder this: serial killer accomplice Malvo has/had a mother's love. Hitler, Jezebel, Delilah, Jeffrey Dahmer, Saddam Hussein, Fidel Castro, former president George W. Bush, President Barrack Obama and all the people we love to hate, revile, criticise, demonise and tear to pieces all have/had a mother's love. All rapists, murderers, thieves, extortionists, prostitutes, pimps and others who have chosen to take the dark side or the path less travelled, have/had mothers too.

Michael Jackson is legendary. As we watched the world pause to celebrate his memory, and saw the impact he had on the world, we should also pause to think about the thoughts in his mother's mind. The nine months she carried him; the delivery, the runny noses, the sleepless nights, the pleasure at his early success, the pain at his mistakes and the five months of courtroom drama as he went on trial for crimes so disgusting one was revolted. But she was his mother, so her love never waned. And then she had to bury him. I am sure she has not buried her love.

We all have the luxury of moving on with our views and emotions when our heroes show their feet of clay; mothers don't. And in so doing, let us all ask ourselves this question: If Michael Jackson was such a totally horrible person, would the world love him so?

Send your comments to: lifestyle@gleanerjm.com

We all have the luxury of moving on with our views and emotions when our heroes show their feet of clay, mothers don't.