Gone Too Soon

And so, the musical genius that was Michael Jackson is with us no more.

On the afternoon of Thursday 25 June – two months away from his fifty-first birthday, and only three weeks before he was due to start a record-breaking 50-date residency at London’s O2 Arena - he gave up the ghost, and is survived by three children, parents and siblings.

I think his untimely demise is captured best in the words of one of his own songs, “Gone Too Soon”. I don’t know if you were a Michael Jackson fan, but I certainly was. A big one. I grew up listening to his music, and as well as appreciating his natural talent for music and dance (he never had any formal training!), I always thought he was a pioneer whose genius would never be fully appreciated in his lifetime.

Unfortunately, his increasingly bizarre lifestyle in the last twenty-odd years guaranteed this, as the press and people around the world focused on his eccentricities rather than his music and creativity. For the majority of his fifty years on earth – forty-five of which were spent in the entertainment industry- he was in the public eye for one reason or the other.

It is this aspect of Michael’s life that I want to reflect on: the never-ending press intrusion, the life that was always under scrutiny. what I call the ‘celebrity factor’. Because more than anything, I think this contributed immensely to his stranger-than-fiction life and eventually, his untimely death.

I’m currently reading…So You Don’t Want To Go To Church Anymore

In the past eighteen to twenty-four months, my church-going habits have deteriorated badly.

While they may now be described as sporadic, for a long period I didn’t go anywhere at all, and took recourse in my home on Sunday mornings.

I can’t put a finger on the specific date that my love for what I’d known to be church started to wane. I just started to tire of the constant ‘busyness’. The seminars and conferences. The meetings and formulaic prayers. The non-stop activities.

And then the questions began. Niggling questions that I couldn’t shake off, no matter how hard I tried.

Do activities really change people’s lives? Do they bring people closer to God? Could it be that as a Christian, I had come to mistake routine and activity for relationship?

I went to see…Death and the King’s Horseman

I went to see…Chicago

I’m currently reading…The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama

I’m currently reading The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama.

To be continued.

I’m currently reading…Why Men Don’t Listen & Women Can’t Read Maps

I’m currently reading Why Men Don’t Listen & Women Can’t Read Maps by Allan & Barbara Pease.

To be continued.

Crunch Time Lessons

2009 is here and already the days are flying by. I don’t know about you but I’m hoping for better things, one of which is an end to the uncertainty that characterised the economic landscape last year.

For a number of reasons.

First, I happen to work in the financial services industry, and it is disconcerting when one hears of thousands in similar and related occupations who lose their sources of livelihood on an almost-daily basis.

And before you scoff, maybe even swear and mutter “Serves the fat cats right” self-righteously under your breath, consider this: a significant proportion of those affected are people like you and me, people who strive to make a living for themselves and their families. Now, their bosses may be fat cats, but they are not the ones whose lives could suffer a major disruption if they happen to find themselves out of a job.

The second reason is down to a recurring annual resolution of mine, which is to maintain control of my finances and plan for the future. I think this is key because far too many of us focus on short-term gratification instead of long-term investment. Having had my fingers burnt years ago (I’m pleading youthful exuberance!) I am far past the stage of succumbing to the temptation to purchase on impulse by flashing red signs in shop windows that say “75% Off”. Plus, I am no longer into the concept of acquiring debts today which will need to be paid off tomorrow.

Happy New Year!

I know it’s taken me all of twenty days, but I’m still wishing regular visitors to this blog – and all new guests too! – a very Happy New Year!

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas…it really does seem that January has come round much sooner than I expected! If you were around last year, you already know my take on resolutions (read that entry here: Happy New Year!) but nevertheless, the start of the year is always a good time to reflect and plan for the next 345-odd days ahead.

I achieved some of my goals from last year, but I’m more or less working on the same things. Just for fun, I’ll reproduce last year’s list now, along with a progress report of sorts:

True Wealth

I have been meaning to put this up for a while.

It links to a profound article written at the end of October by award-winning writer Ben Okri:

Our false oracles have failed. We need a new vision to live by

To be continued.

It’s Because I’m Black, Isn’t It?

I love this picture of the Obamas!

I know the word “historic” has been bandied about a lot in the past few weeks, but there really is no other word that adequately captures the unique and unprecedented times in which we live.

Citizens of the United States have voted in a Black man as their forty-fourth president and, by so doing, have cast aside everything we thought to be true about racial stereotypes in that part of the world, how campaigns are funded and essentially, who Americans are.

Which is great! I admire the Obamas for even embarking on the long road which finally led them to the White House, for sticking to their guns and staying true to their ideals when most people thought they as much chance of success as the concept of flying pigs.

His overwhelming and undeniable success on the 4th of November – compared to the electoral debacle which took place in Florida eight years ago – means that, not only will Barack Obama’s name go down in the annals of history, but people in America and the world over are filled with genuine hope and enthusiasm, as opposed to the cynicism and apathy that usually attends politics.

Not that it matters now, or ever did in terms of me being able to cast my vote, but I must confess that I was not one of Obama’s awestruck supporters, or - as I like to call them - Obamaniacs.