John Lennon

Last night I was supposed to meet some friends for drinks here in Tallinn. It was a cold Thursday night and debating whether to go or not, when I happen to notice the date on my computer - December 8, 2005. Some dates just leap out at you - and this one didn't just leap, it floored me. I quickly tuned my PC to a Toronto rock station, Q107, where I recall they were doing something quite special. As tuned in, I heard 'Give Peace A Chance', and smiled and sighed - just perfect, even for today. Then, a sobering realization - how god-damn appropriate that on December 8, 2005, on the 25th anniversary John Lennon being shot, that this song rings truer than ever. Damn it - I need alcohol and now. As I headed out to get some wine, I muttered to myself 'If only Bush were a Beatles fan, perhaps today might look so different, so promising, so hopeful... if only' (Yes, I can be quite naive at times). So I spent the night slowly getting drunk with two bottles of wine, listening and toasting to, John Lennon.

Oh my god - has it really been Twenty-five years?? Has a quarter century actually passed since this horrible December night? I remember it very well - I was 19 years old and in my first year at York University, in North Toronto. I think it was a Monday night and I was in my bedroom, studying for a economics exam. In the background, I had the radio on, when the news broke. That was in 1980. It was one of those stunned feelings. One of those, this can't be happening moments. The next morning as I was walking along the campus to my exam, I remember it being grey and foggy. The thing that got me was the silence. It was erie. No one spoke and everyone I passed was silent. It was weird. On the way home, the radio was full of haunting Lennon music and I realized then, that a national mourning was just beginning. The world felt quite unsafe and unsettled.

There is/was something about this man that struck a cord with people. He went through such a transition, from the innocent moptop of the early sixties to a peace and anti-war activist of the seventies. As his hair grew longer, so did his convictions and vision.

Damn it Dubya - Why couldn't you have been a Beatles' fan.