David Bowie, the Legend in Short Essays

When Leonard Nimoy died, I was heartbroken. I was exposed to Star Trek because my mother watched it. Not like she watched horror films and television shows, but she did watch science fiction and fantasy television shows and films as well.

To look on my Android phone and see the news notifications that David Bowie passed away yesterday was a difficult pill to swallow.

I know that are many individuals who are huge David Bowie fans. I didn’t realize how much I appreciate his presence on his earth until his passing away sparked me to research him today.

David Jones was a living legend, and now, he is a living presence brighter than he ever was. What I’ve learned today is that he was is one of the many pioneers who embraced his difference. Because of him embracing his difference, I’ve come to realize that if it wasn’t for David Bowie and how he lived his life, it would have been harder for nerds like me who were different to embrace their “oddity” as well.
David Bowie has taught me that it is okay to be different. You are not a freak if you are different. You are just as acceptable and wonderful if you are different. When you embrace being different, it means that you accept yourself—and accept that nothing is wrong with you. That it is truly okay to be unique even though the large part of society tells you that you being different is an issue.

Well, it is not, and David Jones/David Bowie proved that.

What I am most impressed with is that he was a gentlemen. He loved his wife Iman and his children. And he loved being an artist—exploring all that he could of himself even to the very end. He didn’t let his illness rule him on its terms. He ruled his illness on his terms. He celebrated his birthday, released his album on his birthday, and left for the next world surround by love. He lived a wonderful life on his own terms and made people fall in love with him because he loved himself. He understood himself.

The lesson I’ve learned from David Jones/Bowie today is to live your life being true to who you are. Don’t follow the crowd. Invent your own art and be inspired by others. You do not have to march the exact beat to the rhythm. You are appreciate other people’s rhythm and create your own march by being inspired by their marches.

I want to live over a hundred years old. I am deciding to do it on my own terms. Living my life means making time for my art and sharing it with others.

This is what I posted on my Facebook tonight:

As I have been reading about David Bowie, he wasn’t just a talented musician, a style icon, and a legend.
He was a doting husband, incredible partner and father, and most of all, an incredible friend. He made being different acceptable, and that’s MY definition of normal.
I am truly sadden that he is no longer here with us. However, he lived an incredible life. When he knew he was dying, he still rocked on his creativity…not letting an illness slow him down, but embracing his entire sixty-nine years here on Earth as being a blessed man…a fortunate human being.
He is an extraordinary person, and it is hard to know that he is no longer physically here, but his presence will always be. His legacy of sharing how his vision and how different he was inspires me. I hope that inspires all of us that admire him a human being and a creative force.
I also tell you he has an incredible wife. Iman…she knows how fortunate that a love like theirs is so rare.
Susan, one of my great friends, posted this of what Elizabeth Gilbert said of David Bowie. As an artist myself, we have to continue creating and reinventing ourselves. David Jones Bowie, today, you have taught me that who you are is decent and genuine. You have also taught me to never stop writing and learning and most of all, never stop living.

David Bowie…you are hero…that’s every day .

Cheers,
S