...that John Lennon was shot outside of his home in New York and died later that night of his wounds. I'll not mention the son of a bitch that did it (at least not in this post) but I thought I would try and gather some of the words others are thinking and remembering today since I was not aware of Lennon at the time of his death, much to my shame. Mine own thoughts can be found in this post I put up on Sunday. And as Ann Althouse inspired me to write that one, it's only fitting that we revisit her today. And she does not let down with a touching remembrance and regret of the day for her,
How I regret not going uptown to be among the people who openly mourned John Lennon! How foolish I was to think I was foolish to care and to put my effort into blending in with the law review editors who, I imagined, were behaving in a way I needed to learn!
I was especially sensitive about fitting in, because I was six months pregnant with my first child, and I worried that this experience was tearing me away from the career I had spent the last two and a half years studying to begin. I was 29 years old, older than most of the other law students. I doubted any of them had studied fine arts, my undergraduate major. With my age, my art school background, and my pregnancy, I was imposter, constantly threatened with exposure. I couldn't walk out on these people and go be with the mourners. I only watched the mourners on television and felt doubly sad.
On St. Patrick's Day, my baby was born. I named him John.
Read the whole thing, as they say. Nick Gillespie at Hit and Run links to two pieces, one by Robert A. George at Ragged Thots and the other a New York Post column by John Podhoretz. Here's some from George,
I never saw him play live and, in many ways, only got to know him postumously (I raced out and picked up multiple magazines, books and Beatles compilations -- "Blue"/"67-70" is better, in my opinion than "Red"/"62-66" -- I could get my hand on. True fact: My first Playboy was the one on the stands the week after the murder -- with a Lennon/Ono interview that issue's featured article).
Funny, not my first Playboy, but I have that very issue at home in a box somewhere. The Post column requires registration but you can read it here. And here is Jambo at Three Way News, another who came to Lennon late,
But today I'm 41 years old, and it is very strange to mark the first anniversary on which I am older than John was back in 1980. Now I find myself thinking of his last years and listening to him find peace in domestic life with “Starting Over” and “Watching the Wheels.” And I believe that if you don't occasionally sing "Beautiful Boy" to your own kids you're not really doing your job. I'm sure John would not mind that a few of us have to change the gender.
The Ex-Donkey Blog recalls the Lennon influence, and even wonders about how Lennon would react today,
John Lennon was an eccentric. He was also a moonbat before anyone knew what a moonbat was. Had he lived, it's hard to say what he'd be like. On one hand, I don't have a hard time imagining him acting as a human shield for Saddam Hussein. But on the other hand, he might very well have become disillusioned by his friends on the Left. He was funny that way. Very unpredictable.
Unpredictable is quite true. And it would not have been out of character for him to have perhaps been a human shield. If I admired anything about Lennon's stance on protest it is that he would never condone violence as a means to an end, which for the time was a big question. And who is to say that he might not have changed his mind between 1980 and today? No one can say. There are a great many on the left today wishing he were still around to speak his truth to whatever power they hate. I think Lennon would have told them to "piss off' just as quickly as he might Bush, Blair or anyone else. But that's not what today is about. Head over to Truth Laid Bear for an exhaustive list of blogs discussing Lennon today, and take a pass by Blinq for another smaller round up of reaction. And finally, head over to PunditGuy (hat-tip to Ace of Spades HQ) for a recalling of the events of the day and a link rich ending. That is all.
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