I love Michael Jackson. He is one of my all-time favorite musicians. He saved me from the of hell that was High School. High School for me was not fun. Michael Jackson was there for me when no one else was. It sounds insane that a musician who was dead was there for me, but it really is the truth. I honestly think he’s magical.

The first time I saw Michael Jackson, was when I was about four years old. I remember sitting on my couch with my parents watching the Black or White music video. The one thing I remember from that video is Michael running through fire and singing the chorus of the song. The next thing that I saw would be the making of the Thriller documentary. To see how thriller was made was so magical for me as a young kid.

When he passed away in 2009, I was really upset. I wasn’t the biggest fan of him at the time but I started to get into his music. His music is something I had never heard before. It was pure magic in sound. Then I saw his dancing. I think everybody at point wanted to learn how to moonwalk, and I am one of them. So I decided "what the heck let’s try to moonwalk" one day. That one day turned into three months. After those three months, I actually got the moonwalk down. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my entire life.

After learning how to moonwalk, I decided to get more adventurous. I then started to learn the entire dance routines such as the thriller bad danger as Billie Jean and much more. Dancing became a huge hobby for me. It was my escape from High School and let me relieve stress. I actually performed in a 2011 High School talent show, where I got a standing ovation from people who didn’t believe I could do a Michael Jackson dance. To upstage everybody at the talent show was something that I will never forget.

Dancing, to me, is a freedom of expression. As Michael said the worst thing a dancer can do is think. That runs true for me when I dance, I do not think. I just go with the flow and listen to the music. I love music because it takes me wherever it wants me to. To this day, I still practice my Michael Jackson moves and I try to perform as much as possible. Whether I am performing for my parents, my coworkers or my classmates, I still get a huge high from performing in front of others. I still get stage fright, though!

Michael Jackson will always mean so much to me. He is more than just a person to me, he’s a way of living. He always lived by a motto of loving others, which is something I strive to do even though it is extremely hard at some points. But I try to think of what will Michael do in this situation if I come across somebody who doesn’t like me. I always try to remember to "Be Like Michael."