Sometimes, death is a blindside hit.

When it comes at the end of a long life as it did last week for 86-year-old Ed McMahon, you are saddened by it but not particularly surprised. When it comes after a debilitating illness, as it did last week for 62-year-old Farrah Fawcett, you have time to brace yourself against it.

But sometimes, death is lightning from a clear blue sky, a car that runs the red light, ice-cold water dumped on you from behind. That’s how it was last week when Michael Jackson died.

It seemed cruel in the very suddenness of it, harsh in the ...

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