Michael Jackson: A Merciful Ending?

There's a tacky old sexist joke that goes something like this:
Q: Why do men typically die five years before their wives?
A: Because they want to.

Hearing more about the tortured final years and months of Michael Jackson's life, I can't help but thinking the reason he died this week at age 50, is because at least somewhere inside of him, he wanted to.

I offer that speculation because of the contrast between how Jackson was living, and what he was planning to do next in his life. ABC News is reporting today that the singer was addicted to OxyContin, a wicked strong pain medication:

"OxyContin is a powerful drug that contains a much larger amount of the active ingredient, oxycodone, than other prescription pain relievers."

How powerful is it?

"...the National Drug Intelligence Center reports that OxyContin abusers may use heroin if their insurance will no longer pay for their OxyContin prescription.."

Add to that the reports today that he was also getting daily shots of Demerol, and you're talking about a person in the deep throes of an excruciating and debilitating addiction. People who saw Jackson in the final weeks of his life say he had undergone a frightening weight loss, and appeared more frail than ever.

And yet, what was he going to be doing in a few weeks? Launching a series of 50 arena concerts in a foreign country, each one demanding two hours of full scale singing and dancing. It would be a difficult task for a 50-year-old in perfect health. Knowing what we know now about Jackson's physical state, it must have seemed all but impossible that he could pull it off.

Somewhere, deep down, he must have known that himself. With the pressure building, and the addiction raging, something had to give. Yes, it's a tragedy that this immensely talented person has left us. But maybe, just maybe, it brought a merciful end to Michael Jackson's pain and loneliness, before it all got even worse.