Tonight is the 25th anniversary of John Lennon's death. It still boggles my mind that anyone would even want to consider such an act. Lennon was a man of incredible creativity and vitality, a man adored by millions worldwide, and he was gunned down by a man who was clearly not in his right mind in an instant that defies reason, logic, and common sense.
Part of me always wonders what it would've been like if Lennon had lived. A cynical part of me feels that his death was actually for the best: he was cut down while he was still a force to be reckoned with, not a worn-out star whose heyday was years behind him. We might have had to suffer through ill-advised Beatles reunions, the Lads attempting to catch lightning in a bottle the second time around and tarnishing their legacy. As it stands, we dream of the music Lennon could have made, but never had the chance to. It's a sad thought, of course. He may have crafted another song as beatiful as "Imagine," as powerful as "Revolution," as surreal as "I am the Walrus." But we'll never know.
Thus, it's a day of reflection and mourning, a day to remember what was and what could have been. God rest you, John: of all people, you deserve some peace.
~chuck
Song of the Moment: The Beatles, "A Day in the Life"
Thursday, December 08, 2005
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When I was growing up in Hollywood, a number of the rising stars in film and music I met seemed to have the notion that it is better to die at top than to live long enough to fall to the bottom. (Yes, you can easily see that philosophy/perspective playing in the background of my own life -- now, hush, you, I'm making a profound point here!) While I do not know how much of this was truly heartfelt and how much of this was the heart of the moment, I think it applies to losses such as John Lennon.
After all, the ONLY way to ensure you never die while you're at the top is to ensure instead that you die when you're not at the top. *wry rue-filled half-grin*
It may be a day of lamenting the loss of an artistic giant, but it's also a time to recall mortality and the fading away of time: when I mentioned this to my students, some of them could not recognize the name until I definitively connected him to the Beatles. Every icon for an era vanishes eventually into the abyss of time.
But for us, they matter now, because this is OUR TIME.
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