Who now to Heal The World

Michael Jackson was one of the foremost artistes to pay attention to causes of humanity, exemplified by his songs 'We Are the World' and more recently 'Heal The World'.

My own Michael Jackson journey went all the way back to primary school. My elder brother, I think he had to perform for a school function, practised the iconic MJ song 'Beat It' at home all day. Due to the lack of information then, I had no idea how MJ looked like but the chorus of 'Beat it! Beat it!' remained till today. However, I did not get in touch with his songs for many more years (I was a Mandarin song lover and still am)but news of his ever changing appearance and colour was so ubiquitous that it was hard not to notice.

My first MJ album was the equally iconic 'Black or White'. I had bought, using the pay from my temp job at OCBC Securities then, a new AIWA 3-disc changer mini hifi and I thought that only the sounds, songs and arrangement of a top act like MJ would do my hifi justice. The cover design of the album was also unforgettable.

Honestly, I never did like the heavier MJ songs from 'Beat It' to 'Jam'. My loves were his softer and tender ballads and the best of them all has to be 'Heal the World', from the Black or White album.

My thoughts soared with him when he sang about love having a place in all our hearts, that we can turn swords into ploughshares. Though world peace is a much talked about but far away notion, the potential is not unattainable because of the love that do exist but may be forgotten in hearts, and it is this love that will 'make this a better place, for you and for me'.