As you can imagine, Michael Jackson, who always cared for the problems of the world during his life and career, was thinking of others right up until his death. Reportedly about 3 weeks before his death Michael spoke to his friend Gotham Chopra (journalist, writer, comic book editor and son of success guru Deepak Chopra - MJ had some hella interesting and random friends) , about the U.S. journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee, who are now being held for 12 years of hard labor by the North Korean government after some bullshit sham of a trial. The journalists families, including Euna Lee's 4 year old daughter, have barely been able to speak with them, a fact that really upset Michael when he heard about it.
According to Gotham, after MJ asked him a few questions about Laura Ling and Euna Lee's situation he asked, "Do you think that the leader of North Korea could be a fan of mine?... maybe if he was a fan I could help get those girls home." Gotham tried to explain how that's not really how things work (especially with Kim Jong Il's crazy ass), but MJ went on to say "if someone wants to do something good, they just can. They don't really need to worry about all that other stuff."
Now, I'm under no illusions about Michael Jackson; I know that MJ was nuttier than a jar of Super Chunky Jiffy, as most artistic geniuses are, but I don't think I've ever heard of somebody saying something more true than that... "if someone wants to do something good, they just can." Makes me wish that many world leaders were MJ fans and had that kind of compassion.
In honor of that, here's Michael's 1993 Super Bowl performance of Heal the World. I was about 7 years old at the time, but I seriously remember this.
S Dot Tell'Em
