what if...a different kind of life 4 Michael

Thriller and its huge success had a big impact on Michael's life. It really made Michael a world famous superstar. After that Michael was very busy touring and making short films and then a new album and touring again.

In the past month I've thought of how different Michael's life would have been had he chosen a different path to his life. What if Michael had found the woman of his life right after Thriller and married and had children in the early 80's? How different would his life be like now? Assuming that he'd still be a happily married man? Do you think his professional life would have been less successfull or more successfull? Do you think his public life would have been easier or harder? Would there have been Bad, Dangerous, History, Invincible? What about the music itself? What would it sound like? Like Michael we know now or something totally different? Would he had faded away completely from the entertainment world?

I keep in mind something what Michael said shortly after Prince's birth that he wished he had had children and a family earlier but he was busy with his career.

I know there are no answers to these kinds of questions and it's all about what if this and what if that but I just caught myself thinking about this different scenario in Michael's life and found it captivating.

Its interesting to kind guess what it would have been and so on but I truly believe that things have happened because they were meant to. In this way I think for example MJ having kids later on is best for him. He has learnt a lot from watching other celebs raise their kids and see how the kids turn up that I think he is in the best position now than he would have been. Then again this is just my take on it.

I know there are no answers to these kinds of questions and it's all about what if this and what if that but I just caught myself thinking about this different scenario in Michael's life and found it captivating

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I've wondered the same thing, but it seems to me that a part of him didn't really want that more than the part of him that did, so I agree with Forever_Mike that things are as they should be... and besides...his present kids wouldn't be here and they, like everyone, are here for a reason, maybe or maybe not having to do with continueing Mike's legacy which a lot of people may feel, but I feel he might want them to take their own path, and everything does happen for a reason (God's reasons).

Do you think his professional life would have been less successfull or more successfull? Do you think his public life would have been easier or harder? Would there have been Bad, Dangerous, History, Invincible? What about the music itself?

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I'd imagine that he would have still had the same level of success and maybe made a lot more love songs, songs about feeling great and having a great time, maybe more 'silly' fun jams like Thriller - I say all this because I can see him having an even more concentrated focus on God in his life being relaxed with his huge family of his own, then there might have been a different type of focus on children songs maybe like children's albums or children's animated movies and maybe more of his music would have been influenced by different cultures too due to his focus on relaxing and enjoying his travels rather than all the other things he's been distracted with, maybe even more equality and consciousness raising songs and videos to enlighten the world since raising consciousness of that seems to be a passion for him -

and perhaps songs that wouldn't exist would be songs like Who Is It, Can't Let Her Get Away, Give In To Me, Stranger In Moscow, Someone Put Your Hand Out, Morphine (maybe not D.S. because 1993 would not have happened in that way to cause him all that angst and pain) maybe not even YANA or Butterflies, Invincible or Heartbreaker because all those songs as amazing as they are, are about him feeling feelings of loss of love, longing and pain of lonliness.

Art oftentimes is created through contrast, conflict and antitheses though so...it I guess it goes back to, things are as they should be and I believe that if God had wanted it to be another way He would have made it happen another way and not allowed so many difficulties, misunderstandings and other obstacles to get in the way.

Michael could have done like a lot of celebrities and been determined to make it happen according to his "script" instead of waiting on God, and had he done that, it may have been a disaster with him being so young, inexperienced in life and committed to his career, so who knows. I agree though, I feel its a fascinating thing to ponder.

If Michael got married when he was a yonger man he wouldn,t of got all the bad press that he did .

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yep needless to say (glad u did but u know what i mean)

who knows what he may of done different but one thing i do know he still would of been a super star.

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true again

This is a really interesting discussion and a thought that I have entertained more than once! I enjoyed reading all your posts...

Recently there was a little write up about Mr Joe Jackson (article should be available at MJEurope.eu) from the press -- and in that article Mr Jackson Senior was quoted saying something I thought was very interesting. He said that he tried to raise his children in such a way that they would have been successful. I.e good at what they did no matter what profession they chose to do in life. I would like to think this would be the case with Michael...maybe he would have been a businessman, a director in a company, a musicians, a song writer, a doctor or a lawyer but he had instilled in him that drive. very very interesting thought...got me wondering!

Michael,s life would of taken a different turn possibly. If Michael got married when he was a yonger man he wouldn,t of got all the bad press that he did . cause people were always wondering what his gender was . I never thought for one min he wasn,t a normal man. He also maybe wouldn,t of been so much in the media so people may of left him alone. who knows what he may of done different but one thing i do know he still would of been a super star.

If he had immediately married and started a family following Thriller, and changed his course, he probably would not have given the world its global anthem, "We Are The World." He probably would not have gone on the Bad Tour. He touched the hearts of many people across the globe during this long-running tour.

I feel certain that We Are the World and Heal the World still would have happened and Another Part of Me and Black or White because Mike will always care about the world and bridging the devides. I don't feel a wife and family would have compromised that, if anything, maybe allowed him to relax and make more of such songs for the world's 'edu-tainment'. You know Mike is all about healing and making things better, part of why he does what he does. I'd like to think no wife would have cost him or the world any of that.

Yeah, I see what you're saying. After all, he is a very tenacious person.

I was thinking about what he said in Ebony.

Ebony: Speaking of babies, as a father now, rewind back 25 years ago. What is the difference between that Michael and the Michael today?

Michael: That Michael is probably the same Michael here. I just wanted to get certain things accomplished first. But I always had this tug in the back of my head, the things I wanted to do, to raise children, have children. I'm enjoying it very much."

He doesn't seem like he would have left his family for a very long period of time to go on a long tour like the Bad Tour. He's definitely the type that would put his family first. And trying to take them on such a long tour with him, would have been a lot to juggle, as well as hard on his family. As he said, concerts are fleeting. Imagine him doing 123 concerts with his family with him.

Going on the bad tour actually allowed him to spread his message of love far and wide.

Does anyone know if he sung "We Are The World" during the Bad Tour? I'm not sure.

AllForMJ said:

If he had immediately married and started a family following Thriller, and changed his course, he probably would not have given the world its global anthem, "We Are The World." He probably would not have gone on the Bad Tour. He touched the hearts of many people across the globe during this long-running tour.

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I really don't understand how these two things are related. Most stars and superstars are married and have families and they still continue to do their work and go on tour. It's all possible. Caring for a family doesn't mean you cannot care about your art or make great music any longer. I believe it's quite the opposite. Having a family can make you more sensitive both for your art and for the world problems. Saying one thing is not possible because of the other is ignorant. It's like defending celibacy because one can not love God or serve God because he is married and has a family.

Besides, I DO believe very much that MJ's whole life would have been different in terms of all of his problems and the bad press if he had found true love BEFORE he got that famous. If he had married and had children before Thriller, things would have been different.

last unicorn said:

I really don't understand how these two things are related. Most stars and superstars are married and have families and they still continue to do their work and go on tour. It's all possible. Caring for a family doesn't mean you cannot care about your art or make great music any longer. I believe it's quite the opposite. Having a family can make you more sensitive both for your art and for the world problems. Saying one thing is not possible because of the other is ignorant. It's like defending celibacy because one can not love God or serve God because he is married and has a family.

Besides, I DO believe very much that MJ's whole life would have been different in terms of all of his problems and the bad press if he had found true love BEFORE he got that famous. If he had married and had children before Thriller, things would have been different.

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Maybe. I mean the thing is that its easier to imagine that the grass would have been greener if he married earlier etc but it would have not been so. I mean he could have been divorced, had his ex-wife suing him for everything, wanting writing credits fro every song etc (heck! We have people today claiming that they wrote the stuff with him etc like that nutter... can't remember her name!:lol. They could have had his ex taking their kids away etc etc etc The bad press etc could have still happened! My point is that it doesn't mean that marrying earlier would have been great for him in terms of press etc.

I still stand by whatever has happened happened for the best.

last unicorn said:

I really don't understand how these two things are related. Most stars and superstars are married and have families and they still continue to do their work and go on tour. It's all possible. Caring for a family doesn't mean you cannot care about your art or make great music any longer. I believe it's quite the opposite. Having a family can make you more sensitive both for your art and for the world problems. Saying one thing is not possible because of the other is ignorant. It's like defending celibacy because one can not love God or serve God because he is married and has a family.

Besides, I DO believe very much that MJ's whole life would have been different in terms of all of his problems and the bad press if he had found true love BEFORE he got that famous. If he had married and had children before Thriller, things would have been different.

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When the course of time is changed, events are changed.

Also, most superstars are not touching the world with their lives to the degree that Michael Jackson is. Why is that?

Most of them do not have the ability to endure what he endures. Why is that?

They are nowhere near on the level that Michael Jackson is on. Why is that?

Why is it that he is the only one that's there? Most of them cannot even fathom being where Michael is.

I think there is a reason that God has given Michael so much strength. There's a reason why he has the ability to endure the bad along with the good.

Maybe God wanted him to challenge the world. Maybe God wanted to use him to set and example. Maybe God wanted the world to see first-hand that love will always prevail.

Maybe God wanted the world to see Him bring the most famous man in the world through turmoil with his mind in tact and his feet on the ground.

Maybe God wanted the world to see how people will remember someone's good deeds and come to them in time of need.

Maybe God wanted the most famous man in the world to say he places his problems into God's hands.

Maybe God allowed it all to get to this level while replenishing Michael's strength just so the world will know He exist, and that He's been existing since the days of Noah.

That trial was bigger than us all. Mesereau did not defend Michael by himself. Did you hear what Mesereau said to those reporters...thousands of reporters? He said God was with them.

Maybe God wanted those words to go out into the world.

Maybe God wanted to use Michael Jackson to make an announcement to the world.

Maybe God wanted to make His presence known.

There are times when God will allow us to go through things, just so we, and others, will see just how He goes about bringing us out.

Did you see the statement God made to the whole world with that one man?

One.

And God's been known to do that, huh?

What better time to make His presence know to the world than right now? This world is a mess.

What better person to use to set an example than a man that the whole world knows?

Sneddon together with the media were acting up big time. They thought they were going to have a good time trampling Michael while the world watched and the tears flowed around the globe. God shut that mess down.

Isaiah 42:13-14

13 The LORD will march out like a mighty man,
like a warrior he will stir up his zeal;
with a shout he will raise the battle cry
and will triumph over his enemies.

14 "For a long time I have kept silent,
I have been quiet and held myself back.
But now, like a woman in childbirth,
I cry out, I gasp and pant.

Forever Mike, I agree, anything could have happened, still I think if Michael's private life had taken a different turn in early years he wouldn't have had to endure all the media bashing, because it would have made him more "human" and less "strange" to the public.

AllForMJ, I'm trying to be a little more pragmatic and realistic about these things, I may or may not be right, but I try to view MJ as human with flaws and all, instead of a martyr or modern day Jesus.

i get what allformj is saying, i dont think she is making Michael out as anything other than as an example that God used for his glory, and i feel it is very pragmatic, if you're a believer, to believe that is exactly what God did.

As for how his life would be different, for sure, if she was the right person for him, and did right by him, his life would have perhaps been rid of much of the lonliness he has felt, and yeah that would affect his music i'm sure. I believe too that his life is on a plan not of his own, and i think he's done great at handling everything that has been dealt to him, good and bad, and i believe the best is yet to come for him and for what he will do with his life.

raingirl said:

Thriller and its huge success had a big impact on Michael's life. It really made Michael a world famous superstar. After that Michael was very busy touring and making short films and then a new album and touring again.

In the past month I've thought of how different Michael's life would have been had he chosen a different path to his life. What if Michael had found the woman of his life right after Thriller and married and had children in the early 80's? How different would his life be like now? Assuming that he'd still be a happily married man? Do you think his professional life would have been less successfull or more successfull? Do you think his public life would have been easier or harder? Would there have been Bad, Dangerous, History, Invincible? What about the music itself? What would it sound like? Like Michael we know now or something totally different? Would he had faded away completely from the entertainment world?

I keep in mind something what Michael said shortly after Prince's birth that he wished he had had children and a family earlier but he was busy with his career.

I know there are no answers to these kinds of questions and it's all about what if this and what if that but I just caught myself thinking about this different scenario in Michael's life and found it captivating.

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I think Michael is a driven person. I tend to doubt that he could have settled down at a younger age, and achieved the level of professional success that he did...

last unicorn said:

Forever Mike, I agree, anything could have happened, still I think if Michael's private life had taken a different turn in early years he wouldn't have had to endure all the media bashing, because it would have made him more "human" and less "strange" to the public.

AllForMJ, I'm trying to be a little more pragmatic and realistic about these things, I may or may not be right, but I try to view MJ as human with flaws and all, instead of a martyr or modern day Jesus.

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How can you be realistic about something that has never occurred? It's merely wishful thinking.

The course that Michael's life has taken is what is realistic. What you wish would have happened will not come into existence. Therefore, we must accept his life and him as he is. We can't turn back time.

Also, I'm not trying to point him out as a modern day Jesus. I would never place that type of pressure on him. Besides, Jesus' work is still showing results as we speak. His work is doing just fine. Everything that Jesus said when he walked the earth is coming to pass. All of it. His work is what Michael and other people that believe in him are surviving on.

What I try to do is appreciate Michael when things are not going well, just as much as I would appreciate him when things are. That's what people do when they really care about someone as a person. Take the good with the bad. The peaks and the valleys, and allow God to take the lead in getting it all to work. Michael has done a lot of good things with his life, and I don't want to overlook that. He's made a lot of sacrafices as well, while sharing his gift of music with the world, and for that he deserves compassion.

Also when it comes to Michael and the media, he is not the one that is strange. The people that bash others for profit are the ones that are strange. They just don't want anyone to notice it.

I think a major problem for Michael has always been being unable to find people who he can relate to, and vice versa, who can relate to him. I think he's always felt out of place in the world and a lot of his lonliness I feel has stemmed from this. I think people make the mistake of thinking Michael was happy or content when he was young, in his early 20s and late teens, but he himself has said that those years were extremely hard for him and sad. So obviously, he was anything but. A lot of that came from his father, from his lack of a childhood and from that lonliness he felt, being who he was, not just in terms of fame but I think in terms of feeling like, no matter where he went, he didn't really belong.

And so, if Michael had been fortunate enough to find someone to love him and for him to love in his earlier life, someone who he could have really connected with, obviously, his life would have taken a different course.

The reason Michael's always worked so hard, in part, has been because it was the only means through which he knew he had ever recieved any kind of love or affection, since he was a child, all he's ever known is that, in order to be worhty of love, you have to be number one. So, that's a screwed up message to begin with. Maybe if he'd found someone who actually loved him for who he was as a person, he never would have been so driven or as much of a workaholic as he is. He still would have been just as talented, obviously, that's something you're born with. And obviously, his music wouldn't have been so dark. His music has been that way since he was a young man, starting with "Thriller", he's never written about light hearted things or goody two shoes subjects, its always been very heavy and brooding.

So I think Michael, for the longest time, has been coming from a hurt place and a fearful place and that's just the reality of his life. He's an eternal optimist though and so, even through it all, he's remained strong and he's still kicking. Even with that fear and that pain, he's remained positive and had a passion for life.

So to speculate is useless really. He is who he is partly because of the things that have happened to him and to really change any of that significantly, you would probably have to go back to his childhood, give him a childhood and everything else might have been shaped differently, excepting those parts of him which are innate and not a consequence of his upbringing or enviornment. He is a naturally good person, he's a naturally sensitive, caring person. I say natural because he is that way in spite of everything that's gone on in his life and happened to him. He's just that way. His apparent depression over the years though, and sadness, that's largely a result of everything that's occured and if things had gone differently, from the start, that sadness wouldn't be so sever or even existent in the same way probably. Everyone gets depressed, or lonely sometimes, but with Michael it was obviously a constant, and not a medical condition, he was just that way because of the state of his life, of what he had been dealt and what had been kept from him. I think his sensitivity has been what made those things so impactful for him, because he understood what it was he lost and what it was he was faced with, he had an emotional sense of it all. So, its kind of a result of his life and what path it's taken combined with who he is as a person, deep down inside.

I love your post, wannabestartinsomthin21. Nicely put.