Why We Only Needed One Michael...
- R.E.A.C.H. Team
- 2 days ago
- 5 min read
I can’t remember everything about elementary school, but I definitely remember the day I won the Poster of the Week contest!
Every class at my school had one library day per week, where you’d check out books and return the ones you had. But one of the best parts of library day wasn’t the books, it was the poster of the week contest. Each week, the librarian would hang a new poster on the wall. If you wanted a chance to win it, you wrote your name on a slip of paper and dropped it into a shoebox. At the end of the week, she’d draw a name and give the poster to the lucky winner. Usually, it was something boring like a picture of a river, or a rainbow, or an otter. Cute stuff, but nothing kids like me really cared about. But every once in a while, it’d be something cool like a race car or a dragon. That’s when I would care enough to put my name in the box.
But one week! One week they changed the whole game! The poster of the week was a picture of Michael Jackson! And not just any Michael Jackson poster either! It was the poster. The one of him wearing a white shirt, white pants and the yellow sweater vest and bowtie. It was the very definition of iconic!
This was at the height of MJ Mania. Thriller, Billie Jean, and Beat It were in heavy rotation on radio stations and MTV. He was the biggest star in the world, and now his face was hanging in our school library. Kids were freaking out! You’d hear whispers in the hallway. Rumors about kids trying to bribe the librarian with their milk money. People peeking through the library door just to catch a glimpse. That poster was legendary!
Our library day was on Wednesday, and I still remember walking in like I had one mission. I skipped the books, walked straight to the poster, wrote my name on that slip of paper, dropped it in the box, looked up at Michael and said, “I’m taking you home Friday!” I might’ve even spun around and struck the tip-toe pose.
And then I walked away.
I don’t know how to explain it, but I just knew. There were probably 500 kids in my school, but for some reason, I was absolutely certain that poster was mine. I didn’t even worry about it. I didn’t give it a second thought. I slept like a baby the next two nights cause I knew that poster would be adorning my bedroom wall soon.
Friday finally came. It was the end of the school day, and we were waiting for our buses to be called. I was at the chalkboard helping my teacher erase everything.
Anyways, I was just doing my thing to pass the time till my bus arrived. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw our librarian walking into the classroom with a rolled-up poster in hand. Everyone froze! We all knew what that meant. Somebody in our class had won. My classmates gasped. Some were already mourning the loss because they didn’t bother to put their name in the shoebox. I just kept erasing the chalkboard like it was no big deal. The librarian whispered something to my teacher, smiled, and handed her the poster. Then my teacher turned around and said two of the most magical words in the English language! Actually, they weren’t English words, they were Spanish words. “Javier Sanchez.”
The class exploded! Kids screamed like Michael Jackson himself had moonwalked into the room! Some of my classmates were literally falling out of their chairs. Me? I grinned from ear to ear and bounced up and down like I was on stage at the Grammy’s. The Michael Jackson poster was mine!
When I got on the bus, it was like I was holding the Holy Grail! Every girl wanted me to sit next to her just because I had the Michael Jackson poster. I got to sit in the very back row, the “cool” seat, with one of the coolest and cutest girls in school. I was the most popular kid in school for the last five minutes that day and the most popular kid on the bus for the entire ride home. When I got off the bus I ran home, grabbed some tape, and hung that poster up on my bedroom wall. I stared at it for hours. Okay, more likely five or ten minutes, but it felt like hours!
I’ve stayed a Michael Jackson fan my entire life. Michael’s life was definitely complicated, full of greatness, controversy, and tragedy, but his impact is undeniable. I’ll never forget the day he passed. I was at my computer when the news hit, and it shook me. My kids were nine and six at the time, and even they were fans. Their mom and I had to sit them down and explain what happened, like we’d lost a family member. The whole world grieved together.
For those of us that have made it our mission to impact lives, whether voluntarily or professionally, it’s important that we remember to do our best not to compare ourselves to others in terms of how we impact and especially how many we impact. There never has nor do I believe there ever will be an entertainment icon like Michael Jackson ever again. But guess what? There will also never be another you ever again either. So who you impact and how you impact them is uniquely yours. I don’t think the world really needs another Michael Jackson. But right now, right where you are, the world needs you. You may never get the praise, the awards, or the screaming fans that Michael had, and that’s ok. You have an opportunity to impact your world, however big or small it is, in a way that no one else on the planet can. Because no one else is YOU! So thank you for being you. Always.
Everyday in big or small ways we have an opportunity to impact lives. It starts with choosing to do so. Not for the praise or the social media selfies, but just because it's the right thing to do. Here is a resource you can use and share with others that can help you be more intentional about your impact.
And here's a quick video of me performing one of my favorite poetry pieces about the opportunity we all have to impact others, called Be. Cause. Of course if you like it, please share it.
As always, thank you for the work you do,
but most importantly for the person you are.
Also don't forget to share this to your socials!