I do not know sign language, but this kind of reminded me of Mike while singing "Will you be there?" when using sign language. I am no saying this was it, I just say it reminded me that. I found a description of this here:
http://www.lifeprint.com/asl101/pages-signs/t/thankyou.htm and they say that when you use both hands, it means you are very grateful. It's like blowing a kiss.
wowow.... This Michael Jackson is really SOMEONE SPECIAL... he gives us so many opportunities to talk and to learn.
Wonderful man.... wonderful man!
Bo's Self-Indulgent Essay of the Week: 
Secular Spirituality and MJ
That boy MJ just keeps surprising me. ( Bear with me, I'm in a chatty mood!) I've mentioned before I've been a low-key fan of MJ, saw/heard little about him after seeing the Victory tour, was a J5 lover. MJ and I are the same age. On the day he died I was surprised as the day wore on to find grieving slowly emerging, as I gradually realized what a (glittering golden) thread he'd been in the tapestry of my life, one I hadn't realized -- he was just always kind of there for forty, yes forty years. He was an institution. I had MUCH catching up to do... each new song I heard, each video, each live performance... All new! I'd been very engaged in schooling and career and missed almost of it. So in a few months I've had to research things many of you have known for decades, which gives it an added intensity. Learning what a wonderful man he was, as PCR mentions above, came as such a surprise... I began as someone who thought he didn't even write his music (I know, I know :doh: ), though I did love it, who thought him too childish to be interesting.
The Beatles for me were an intellectual connection beginning around puberty; I never shared the crushes of my friends, though my walls were papered with their pictures and I kept a scrapbook. At MJ's death, in reading a bit to understand this latest loss to the world of music and dance, I stumbled on his "Come Together" video. Whoa. This was no child. When I wasn't looking, Michael Jackson had become a true rocker. Arguably the sexiest rocker in history. How did this happen without my hearing about it -- I've always kept up with current and artistic events. (Thus my "Sex God" thread, analyzing this media treatment).
Well, the above was to explain my sudden and recent curiosity. That led me to do a bit of research. Through this thread, I think I've learned pretty conclusively that his was an enduring and strong religion, toward the end a nonsectarian theism with JW leaning and fondness for certain Catholic traditions. So religion understandably saturates all forums on this site. My wild guess (should I post a poll?) puts membership here at ~70% Christian, ~15% "spiritual but not religious", ~10% with secular philosophies, and less than ~5% combined Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, and others (in that order). I base that on general demographics across the countries typically represented here, tweaked a bit to account for our special interest (feel free to dispute my guesses!)
If we expanded the thread topic to be MJ's SPIRITUAL beliefs, my ~10% nonreligious comrades would then be included. Which would be nice. As a secular humanist, I do consider myself deeply spiritual. (Many in that 10% will be uncomfortable with the word "spiritual," which is fine -- they know it's sorely ambiguous. But the emotions they express make clear we're sharing the same spiritual sense, regardless of the semantics.
What I've observed is that a large part of MJ's spirituality -- his "on-the-ground spirituality," if you will, -- stems from vital secular sources... a profound sense of connection to humanity (especially his and all chidren) and to nature (especially animals and planetary health), to strive toward ever greater personal excellence, and sense of mission and purpose in this life to leave a positive impact. These are the sources of meaning that have provided firm grounding, ethical behavior, and love of life over eons for millions with a secular philosophy.
I don't believe for a second MJ had the "rhinoceros skin" he bravely claimed he had. But what he did have was the realization that to survive the nightmares, he had to actively seek out these sources of strength and draw deeply... and he did just that. "This Is It" is the ultimate testimony to his great success at that. It was a success with one fatal flaw: a lifelong nemesis that he had never found how to defeat -- insomnia. This was not the battle, as some would have it
**cough... shmuley... cough **, of missing or warring internal religious values, but a battle to win that most secular and fundamental a requirement for life -- sleep.
The show was all the more stunning of an accomplishment given this private war every night to literally fight for survival. The insomnia stemmed from any or many of a long list of possible causes, but given that it remained a fairly constant thread in his life from his teen years, it would be a cynical stretch to claim it's due to religious impoverishment
**cough... shmuley... cough **.
Here's where I get speculative and controversial, and once again walk into MJJC hot water. I would fervently debate Shmuley that it was not undeveloped
religious values that led to MJ's death, but undeveloped
secular values:
-- educating yourself in science and health.
-- knowing how in this information age to find and select the most credible info to educate yourself.
-- understanding how the scientific method is not just for scientists, and can be applied to our most mundane decisionmaking -- weighing evidence, critical thinking, risk/benefit evaluation, and probability. (I don't mean anything requiring higher math, more the general principles).
-- remembering we are, ultimately, mammals -- a pairbonding, social species. Most (not all) of us will instinctively feel discontent when these needs remain unmet.
-- knowing that as a species we are only recently separated from nature by walls and concrete, and still crave it. Thus the growing realization of "nature deprivation disorder"... did he try hard enough to hear his own call of the wild? While he abstractly loved "the planet," that's a far cry from a primeval, visceral connection with nature. It doesn't seem he ever figured out to meet this need, no doubt overwhelmed hiding from the public, and the sun due to his skin disorder. I'm not sure petting a leashed giraffe on a manicured lawn can substitute for backpacking in the wilderness...
Some predator was going to find this weak spot in such an attractive target as MJ, and so he did. So nothing I'm saying here in any diminishes Murray's apparent crime of medical negligence.
MJ's life holds powerful lessons in secular values spirituality, or secular philosophies.
