If Jackson’s death does nothing else, it reminds us of important lessons:

We never truly know a person, except through our experience of them – in close proximity, and over time. Even then, there are those who are adept at disguising other aspects of their behavior and inner world that we may never see or know.

Life is precious, and fleeting. There are loving, generous, accomplished people who die, every day. And families and friends who grieve them. There are forgotten, miserable, seemingly invisible people who die every day. And no one to grieve them.

Yes, we talk to much. Act too little. And don’t dance enough, while we have the time and joy to do so.

It wasn’t the endless yammering on the cable news outlets. It wasn’t the back to back showing of his videos (though I thoroughly enjoyed it).

It was video of a street in London jammed for blocks with hundreds, maybe thousands of people, all of them doing the dance routine from Thriller.

It was a joyful thing to watch and undoubtedly even more joyful to be part of. It expressed appreciation to an artist in a way he would have liked best – through dance.

Michael Jackson was a tragic human being and a gifted creative artist. I liked knowing that this massive dance-in would have been very gratifying for both sides of him.

After watching, I concluded that people truly do talk too much.