DO YOU REMEMBER THE TIME….
Can’t imagine how many kids wanted a red leather jacket (with a zillion zippers) for Halloween. Can’t even count how many messy bedrooms were wall-papered by a white pimp suit, jheri curl, and of course– a tiger cub.
There was a time when we all shared in the same ups and downs. We all waited patiently for our favorite television shows, MTV videos, the Top40 countdown. It was communal consciousness. It made us all humans, Americans, kids, or whatever identity we’d chosen for ourselves.
As a child, visiting family halfway across the world— my cousins and I would re-enact the ‘Beat It’ video…. it was essentially the only thing we had in common, trapped in that sweltering summer heat. Because even over there, everybody knew all the words.
Now we only share the little pieces…the Tweets of our lives. There are so many voices, images, and ideas that while we are awash in choices and freedom, we rarely come together to meet in the same moment.
He was a moment that lasted nearly 40 years. And almost anyone born after after 1960 was a part of it. Probably the last, or one of the last times we’ll all share so much together, for so long.
Someday in the future, it’ll be 40 years since he went away. And I’ll be an old man. But I’m guessing I’ll still ‘Rock With You’. Rest now, friend.