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Pop icons Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson both dead; how will they be remembered?
By Joanne Brokaw

June 25, 2009 was an historic day in pop culture.

First came news in the morning that 62-year-old actress Farrah Fawcett succumbed to cancer after a three-year battle.

Then, while media outlets were gearing up for feature stories on the former "Charlie's Angels" beauty, news broke in the afternoon that 50-year-old pop icon Michael Jackson had died of cardiac arrest, and the airwaves became the all Michael Jackson, all the time network.

What's interesting about the stories is the way the pop icons will both be remembered.

Farrah Fawcett had a long acting career, from "Charlie's Angels" to dramatic film and stage roles. She played the role of Marjorie in the off-Broadway production of Extremities, for example, reprising the role in the 1986 feature film adaptation and earning a Golden Globe nomination for best actress in a drama. She starred in the TV movie The Burning Bed, earning the first of three Emmy nominations. She earned her second Emmy nomination and sixth Golden Globe nomination for the miniseries "Small Sacrifices."

And yet, when you hear her name, what's the first thing you think of? That famous poster of Farrah Fawcett in her red bathing suit, the famous Farrah flip hair do, and the dumb-blond, gun-toting character Jill Munroe on Charlie's Angels. And yet, she only starred in one season of the show. And that poster? It originally appeared in a 1976 issue of Life magazine.

Michael Jackson unquestionably changed the face of pop music, from his beginnings with the Jackson 5 to his own record breaking, chart topping solo projects. His Thriller album made history, and the video for the title track changed the way music videos were made forever. His fingerprints were all over everything from fashion to music to dance. American pop culture would not have been the same without Michael Jackson, and that's not an exaggeration.

And yet with all of those successes, it's impossible to recap his life without mentioning his repeated cosmetic surgeries and the numerous accusations of child molestation. For all of the good Michael Jackson gave pop culture, he also offered tabloid fodder in equal amounts. His behavior was so bizarre that last night (June 25) on the BBC, one reporter said that when he heard the news of Jackson's death, he wrote it off as some sort of stunt for Jackson to get out of his upcoming European comeback tour. How sad that was his first instinct, and yet no one would have been surprised if that had been true.

How is it that entire lives return again and again to one or two moments in history? One bad decision, one great success, and a person's entire life is reduced to one brief snapshot in time. Do we have a choice in how we're remembered, in the footprint that we leave behind? And if we do, are we conscious of those choices as we live our daily lives?

Watching the news reports of the deaths of both Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson, it's easy to get wrapped up in the mourning of celebrities.

But the reality is that their deaths aren't any more important or tragic than any of the thousands of other people around the world who died on June 25, 2009. In God's eyes, each was created in His image. All left work unfinished, regrets, relationships that could have been mended and weren't. All will be remembered by people who love them, whose lives were touched by them. All were more than just a snapshot in time; all left the world a different place for having been alive.

As will you and I. How will you be remembered? What fingerprints do you want to leave on the world?

This article originally appeared on Examiner.com. Reprinted with permission." [ http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-12513-Rochester-Christian-Living-Examiner~y2009m6d26-Pop-icons-Farrah-Fawcett-and-Michael-Jackson-both-dead-how-will-they-be-remembered ]. Visit Joanne Brokaw’s blog at  http://www.examiner.com/x-12513-Rochester-Christian-Living-Examiner