Please excuse me if my logic doesn't translate, as I'm several mojitos deep, but an interesting thought occured to me tonight.  Today, Michael Jackson died prematurely at the age of 50.  He was a pop music icon that changed the way we viewed music.  He is one of the most famous musicians in the world, over my lifetime.

How are we to judge him?  In fact, do you really have the right to judge him at all?  Personally, I have been very harsh on him during the second half of his life as he made very questionable decisions in his personal life.   He certainly seemed to embody his nickname, wacko jacko.  But it made me think about what should a person be remembered for?  Should it be for the good he contributed to the world, or the bad?  If I were in his situation, what would I want others to remember?  How do we balance our contributions versus our negatives?  No person is all good.  No person makes all good decisions.  Where and how do we balance what we have done?  He positively affected many people, and negatively impacted a lot of people too.  I don't condone his behavior, but I'm curious what is the best way to view him.