What Michael Jackson Taught Me About Life

Life sucked as a teenager.  

I was poor, chubby, and unpopular, and the universe was out to get me.

Or so I thought at the time.

As a means of escapism and trying to work off those extra pounds, I would dance to Michael Jackson hits in my bedroom each evening. 

Nothing soothes my soul like dancing, and Michael Jackson’s music dominated the charts in the 80s.  

Turning “Beat It” up to full volume, I would pound my feet and frustration out on my bedroom floorboards.

This wouldn’t have been a bad thing, except due to our poverty, my parents had purchased a house that needed several repairs. It was a house previously infested with termites. A house with rotten floorboards.

I’m sure you know where I’m going with this, but please humor me.

One evening, in the middle of belting out the lyrics…

No one wants to be defeated,
Showin’ how funky and strong is your fight,
It doesn’t matter who’s wrong or right
Just beat it, beat it.
Just beat, beat it. 

…the floorboards cracked under the pressure and gave way.

One second I was dancing and singing at the top of my lungs, and the next second I was screaming for help.

I fell through the floorboards to my knees, becoming wedged in the wood. The lower half of my legs dangled in the space beneath the floor, riddled with splinters.

I don’t remember how my family extricated me. Or how long I hung there, screeching. Or how painful it was. (But it was painful!)

I just remember receiving a brand, new floor a few weeks later. (And a fair amount of ribbing from my family that continues to this day.)

For the first time in my life, I consciously realized that something good could come from something bad.   

A new floor didn’t mitigate the pain and humiliation of the experience, but it turned a negative situation into a positive one.  

Thanks to Michael Jackson, my hefty thighs, and some rotten floorboards, I became a person who looks for silver linings and refuses to be defeated.

You could argue that Michael Jackson had nothing to do with it, and that I’m the kind of person that would eventually have looked for silver linings anyways. And perhaps you’d be right.

But because this was the first incident in my life that triggered a recognition and acknowledgement of silver linings, I chose to give Mr Jackson the credit.

Since then, I have recognized and acknowledged many silver linings in my life, including the silver linings that came as a result of my teen-age hang-ups.

Being poor meant I didn’t take things for granted, and it helped me foster an attitude of gratitude for the non-monetary riches in my life. It pushed me to excel at school and attend college, with the hopes of changing my financial situation.

Being slightly overweight meant I had child-bearing hips that helped me give birth to two beautiful children. And the problems my extra weight later instigated, like a hiatal hernia, taught me the importance of eating healthier, which in turn helped me change my diet.  

Being unpopular also pushed me to excel, if only as a means of proving my worth. It assisted in me in being less judgemental, too. If I didn’t want to be judged, why should I judge others? I’m not completely without judgement, but when I find myself judging another, I try to put myself in their shoes or remind myself that I am far from perfect.  

Over time, each of the negatives produced positive results.  

Is my life a positive experience now?

It’s a learning experience.  

I continue to experience negative situations. That’s life. Life does suck sometimes, and everyone has their crosses to bear.

But I trust that things happen for a reason and that the universe isn’t out to get me. It’s out to help me.

We can let the negative situations rule our lives, and let ourselves be defeated.

Or…

…we can show the world how funky and strong is our fight.

Thanks to Michael Jackson, I’ll be looking for the silver lining in every adversity, and I plan to beat it.  

Just beat it!