I didn’t know Michael Jackson and could not realistically reach out to him, but the event of his death does make me think of people close to me whom I feel I should sync with in times of difficulty. People who I believe are hurting and for whom that hurt hides the forest for the trees. Now I am reminded once again that it is better to lose a friend for trying, than to lose a human being for not trying.

Some people are beyond “repair”, as may have been Michael Jackson’s case. It seems like he was on a downward spiral for a long time and nothing, not even his love for his children (in my book, the truest test), could keep him among us. I am sure friends and family tried to reach out to him… the extreme pain of his life was probably too embedded in his everyday. It really was a agonizingly BIG life.

Not having inner peace is just about the most horrible thing that can happen to a person. With inner peace all traumas become bearable, somehow. We are able to feel love, not just the one we give, but the one we receive, and that fuels us. Michael Jackson was indeed deeply troubled, but he was also immensely loved, adored, revered… It appears that he had such inner turmoil that he was unable to channel that into anything positive. Instead it seems he evaded it through numbing his pain in every way possible, until the numbness took over and sucked the life out of him.

Unfortunately, inner peace is not something you can give someone, people have to reach it on their own. For some it requires tons of willpower and work. Real work. Excruciating work.

… back in my own “little” world, this screams in my ear that that when you care for people, you really have to do all you can to reach out. We all have our demons, big and small. Some are more apparent than others, some more asphyxiating than others. But people need to know that you are there to shine a light as they swim through the dark waters of their hurt. As they toil to find that inner peace everyone talks about.