I first asked this question ten years ago on the thirty anniversary of John Lennon’s death.
Whether asked the question or thinking to yourself, we often recall years later what we were doing when we first heard of a sad happening. With today being the 40th anniversary of John Lennon’s death, thoughts on time and place are reviewed. I was in my small apartment on a rainy, cold night, just off the campus of Western Kentucky University, where I was teaching. If I had a TV, I don’t recall because I was usually listening to music on the radio. Then, as now, music is a part of my daily existence, and the beauty of Lennon’s music is its ability to make you think and help you answer questions.
In December of 1980, Lennon had only recently turned forty, and I was about to reach the same age. We shared little besides years of life and his music. Now, forty years out, I wonder what John Lennon would be like if he were still a part of our existence. We both would be fifty years into the age Lennon, as a young flower-child rebel, famously labeled, “Never trust anyone over thirty!”
Imagine
Imagine there’s no Heaven It’s easy if you try No hell below us Above us only sky Imagine all the people Living for today
Imagine there’s no countries It isn’t hard to do Nothing to kill or die for And no religion too Imagine all the people Living life in peace
You may say that I’m a dreamer But I’m not the only one I hope someday you’ll join us And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions I wonder if you can No need for greed or hunger A brotherhood of man Imagine all the people Sharing all the world
You may say that I’m a dreamer But I’m not the only one I hope someday you’ll join us And the world will live as one
May the spirit of John Lennon always be with us.
— kenne
“I believe in God, but not as one thing, not as an old man in the sky. I believe that what people call God is something in all of us. I believe that what Jesus and Mohammed and Buddha and all the rest said was right. It’s just that the translations have gone wrong.”
Whether asked the question or thinking to yourself, we often recall years later what we were doing when we first heard of a sad happening. With today being the 30th anniversary of John Lennon’s death, thoughts on time and place are reviewed. I was in my small apartment on a rainy, cold night, just off the campus of Western Kentucky University, where I was teaching. If I had a TV, I don’t recall because I was usually listening to music on the radio. Then, as now, music is a part of my daily existence, and the beauty of Lennon’s music is its ability to make you think and help you answer questions.
In December of 1980, Lennon had only recently turned forty, and I was about to reach the same age. We shared little besides years of life and his music. Now, thirty years out, I wonder what John Lennon would be like if he were still a part of our existence. We both would be forty years into the age Lennon, as a young flower-child rebel, famously labeled, “Never trust anyone over thirty!”
Since John Lennon would have been 70 yesterday and he was just a couple of months older than me, why am I having trouble envisioning John at 70. Can it be denial? No, not me!
