Great letter by Ed Jameson in today's Idaho Statesman

MICHAEL JACKSON

King of Pop 'raised the bar of genius'

The "Candle in the Wind" characterizes the limited lifespan of every genius of any genre who has given much more than they took with them. They all shared the lopsidedness of normalness/eccentricity that their "gift" carries with it. They never know, from minute to minute, when they're inadvertently stepping into the "normal" world from the world that makes them the genius. Revealing themselves to average people opens them up to criticism and questions of their basic sanity. In all cases, history and the growth of society is an accumulation and compilation of the productive minds of these people, good or bad.

Without art and the genius required to create it, the world would offer mankind only a place to reproduce and work. It is art, in all forms that it takes, that gives humanity the essence of what the enjoyment of life is. It is the ancient art on the caves of early man that defines them and their world. And it is the evolution of Michael Jackson's contribution to his art form that raised the bar of genius to what it is today.

ED JAMESON, New Meadows

(letter one)

http://www.idahostatesman.com/opinion/story/821088.html