A Piece of My Life

It's not that I worship any of the stars that have fallen, whether it's Elvis or Michael Jackson. I never met either one, or any of the others that have touched my life. And though they were bigger than life they were still just people. But people, all kinds of people, these are what make life special here on planet earth. We are touched by those around us even if they are/were "superstars" they touch us and become a part of what makes us us. I was just a kid - 9th grade, Mrs. Mitchell's Algebra class, about 1:30ish on that Friday afternoon - the message came over the loudspeaker. "President Kennedy has just been shot and is being rushed to Parkland Memorial Hospital..." School got out for the rest of the day shortly after that. And all American's lives changed that cold November afternoon. Not in some really dramatic way for most of us, but we changed because a piece of our lives was gone and so was a piece of America.

The day Elvis died I was driving back from Memphis, stopped in a gas station and the attendant came out. "Did you hear the King died?" "What King?" I wanted to know. "Elvis, man! Elvis." He could hardly speak it without crying and his emotion was real. It was August in Arkansas, hot; Yet I turned ice cold. Elvis was part of my youth, my life. I'd been listening to him for as long as I could remember. I sang his love songs to my wife. Part of me died that moment. I wiped tears from my eyes before I got back in the car and told my wife. We drove the last fifty miles home in silence.

Though it's a bit different now, I'm obviously much older, but the death of Michael Jackson has also affected me. As weird as it seems, I think "Thriller" is one of the best music videos ever produced. I've watched it many times. When I heard that Michael had died I felt it. As a child of God, waiting for eternal life, I was reminded that I am mortal and terribly finite as far as life here on earth is concerned. If I live another twenty years I know it will slip by so quickly that it will be gone before I realize it and so will I. And when I die, it won't be just me, but worlds will die with me. All the lives that have touched me will be gone. My dreams and hopes, my memories and earthly relationships... all gone. And those left behind will have some of the same thoughts I'm having now. One or two will think about how I was a piece of their life. And they will die just a little. We have that effect on people. I'm thinking I ought to live in such a way that many people will feel the loss when I'm gone. Not because I was a good dancer, but because I was able to make their lives just a little bit better.

Job said this in defense of his life:

When I went out to the gate of the city,
when I prepared my seat in the square,
the young men saw me and withdrew,
and the aged rose and stood;
the princes refrained from talking
and laid their hand on their mouth;
the voice of the nobles was hushed,
and their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.
When the ear heard, it called me blessed,
and when the eye saw, it approved,
because I delivered the poor who cried for help,
and the fatherless who had none to help him.
The blessing of him who was about to perish came upon me,
and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.

Notice that respect was paid to Job "because..." I want to be a piece of people's lives because of the becauses. Don't you?