Yes, this is it

A year ago today, I showered early, then with Jenny, Potit and Raul trooped to Cinema 6 at SM City North EDSA. We did so just as thousands of other Filipinos and millions all over the world went to the cinemas in their respective cities.

Strange because with the advent of videos and cable TV, I stopped going to the movies. I didn’t see the need to get out of the house just to spend two hours watching a story on the big screen.

What happened four months earlier changed all that.

When he died, Michael Jackson caught me off-guard. He captured my imagination and I just couldn’t have enough hours in a day researching on this intriguing persona who slipped by me in the last four decades.

As my online research went on, I hardly noticed that he had gone beyond my imagination and had actually seeped into most of my waking moments. Nothing like the giddiness of an adolescent over a new-found celebrity idol though. I am a senior citizen, and it was and is really a case of deep respect and admiration for a remarkable human being who was misunderstood, incessantly persecuted and mocked but who kept at what he discerned as his calling -- to keep loving and to keep giving, no matter what.

Thus when the play date for the docu-concert movie, This Is It, was announced, I put my planning skills to work on a plan that will ensure that this elderly will have the best seat in one of the best if not THE best cinema in town to watch the film on its first screening day.

My family, simple and normal as they are, were aghast. They could only watch as I enjoined my small troop to come along. When the tickets went on sale, I was among the first to pick up the tickets for seats I meticulously chose and previously reserved for by phone.

On the morning of Oct. 29 (Oct. 28 in the US), we were at the mall way before screening time. We went for an early lunch and then finally to the IMAX theatre for the screening.

When the house lights went off, the wiggling inside my stomach intensified. If or when the wiggling stopped, I didn't notice. Because what followed for me were 111 minutes of rapt, spellbound absorption for what was unfolding on the big screen. For once, my favorite Chef Tony's popcorn went unnoticed – it didn't have a fighting chance against the multi-sensory feast that was unfolding in front of me.

This guy who I only really came to know four months earlier had me stunned. My eyes glued to the big screen, I was confused at the gamut of emotions running around inside me.

Unspeakable delight at seeing talent like I've never seen before. Awe at genius unfolding before my very eyes. Respect for such discipline, patience, and hard work until each note was perfect and each movement precise. Regret at what his family, friends, colleagues, fans, and the world were deprived of when June 25, 2009 transpired the way it did. Anger and disbelief at those who hurl untruths about him.

But most of all, my heart was welling up with deep fondness for this caring, giving masterpiece of a man who was focused on work one moment -- executing his part or mentoring excited and timid newcomers or gently but firmly asking the musicians to tweak here and there in order to achieve the right sound -- and funny and laughing the next.

What a beautiful human being. Just what this dark and dreary world needed, I thought to myself.

When the movie ended, I was speechless. I walked out of the theatre with a lump in my throat. I knew then what I missed all along. And it’s a regret I still grapple with today. For how long will I do so? Only God knows. Because God does know. I know.

And it is not only my new friendships with other MJ admirers and fans all over the Internet and the globe are proof of that.

Michael Jackson did not only give me an unforgettable movie experience last October 29, 2009. He gave me and countless others greater awareness at how we can be kinder to one another, more courageous to stand up for what’s good and true even if the rest are standing on the opposite side, and more persevering to use the gifts that were given us to be of better service – to our families, to our friends, to strangers, to planet earth, and to all creatures that roam our forests, swim our oceans and soar through our skies.

His mission lives on -- beyond propofol, beyond Staples Center, beyond Forest Lawn. Thank you, God, for Michael Jackson.


Aftermath:
I saw the movie two more times while it was running in the cinemas and have watched it countless times on the DVD from Dodo and the commemorative TII flash drive from Jenny. I have also since acquired MJ books and other stuff. My research is still ongoing. I continue to discover accounts that solidify my respect and admiration for the man. His fans who speak and act L.O.V.E. are manifestations that the world is reaping what he sowed while he lived.

As for my family, they have come to terms with my MJ habits. With the stories I share with them, they now also know the man better. With my constant playing of MJ tunes, they now also have a real and greater appreciation for his outstanding musicality. Most of all, I notice too that we've become better with one another, as well as with others over all.

The Lord's ways are indeed strange, wonderfully strange.


(My thanks to the owners of the photos I used in this piece.)