The use of drugs by people to mask their feelings, help them sleep, enhance their abilities and cover their self hatred is rampant in our western society. Yet, the focus is always cast upon another, I find that funny as I inadvertently catch a story referring back to his drug use…so many throwing stones.

Again, I wrote this to move away from the tragedy, the magnification of his sadness or madness as some may think. Instead, I approach this with the realization that this memorial was a good one, full of friends and family that felt so blessed by his friendship, humour and kindness that they felt compelled even in their grief to sing and speak about their loved one. Our public knowledge is tainted but their private experiences shared in the memorial was something I felt was very touching and enlightening. Sometimes it is nice to delve into those beautiful moments via the people who knew him best. Thank you so much, your comment, well put.

It seems that he mainly felt comfortable & confident in costume and the warm lights of the stage.
Young people and his adoring fans gave him the love that many adult relationships denied him.

Sadly, he needed pills to sleep..Sleep and the chance to dream and refresh…A gift that so many of us take for granted.

He now has the sleep, rest and refuge that he could not find in life.
I wish Peace to him and all other tortured and talented souls.

My choice to acknowledge his contributions, as you know, was not only based on nostalgia but also to realize nothing is as it seems. We learned so much about an individual, who previously we gleaned info through the media. Cuts and takes, edited interviews and agendas were our glimpse into the life and mind of this person. If all of our lives were edited and screened the way his was, including all of our “questionable” decisions, well I would hate to see what the movie of my life would look like.

There are multi-layers to all human beings, in the quietest moments what we say and think about self can be quite different than our outward appearances. I have done a lot of work around that with clients and it is amazing.

There is no doubt that personally there were issues with his self esteem we can speculate body morphic disorder. However, all of that is not uncommon to the great artists of our time. Their sense of what is right or wrong in the world is different, they see and hear things differently.

As for the molestation, I really appreciated your honesty on that topic. I hold a different opinion. My mother watched the memorial and like me had all along questioned the validity of such claims. She said “You know, with all those people he called him friend, all of them that spent so much of their life around him, loved him dearly, I don’t think those people you saw today would have stuck by him, if they had any thought at all that he was capable of molesting children.”

I agree, the diversity of the people that showed their heart, love, respect for him from all walks of life may know more than us.

Regardless, you and I as you put it, get to celebrate a life and contributions that influenced our world. That which became part of the landscape of our youthful years. Thank you again, Gillean…a great read, so thoughtful and interesting! Look forward to future comments.