Remembering John 2014

All photos are copyright Sara Schmidt    Please do not post without permission

34 years ago we lost John.   We have lived in a world without John Lennon for 34 years.   And I wish I could say that in the past 34 years things in America have gotten better.   That gun law drastically changed and that there is more peace and harmony among people.    However, John's murder was just one of millions that have occurred.     This has been a difficult day for me.   December 8th usually is, but for some reason this December 8th is a little more difficult than others.    I think in part it was because I was doing testing with students at school today and I had to write "December 8" over and over again on test papers.   Seeing the date in my face just made it more real.  

But even in the middle of the sadness over the years, I have to say that us Beatle fans have always kept John's music and his message alive.     I am proud to be a Beatle fan because the Beatles stood for peace and love.   I was just listening to John's last interview and he was saying that he still believed in "All you need is love."  

John's death reminds us all that life is so short.   John did not wake up that Monday morning thinking that it was going to be his last day on earth.  At that last recording session, Yoko didn't think, "well this is it...I will never see my  husband again."    But in just one moment, he was gone forever.    There has been a lot of death around me lately.    A lot of friends family members and people I am acquaintances with have passed away in the past week.    Make the most of the time you have here.  Spend it with the people you love and do the things you enjoy.    Don't argue over little things and get all worked up over minor issues.   Find happiness is life, even when it is getting you down.

The photos I posted are ones that I own (yes, I bought the copyright to a set of them) from December 14, 1980 during the memorial service for John.   You know, I cannot think of another person that had such a huge memorial service.   In all of the major cities around the world, people who loved John came together to remember him and pay their respects.   The largest one was at Central Park in New York City (seen here), but there were gatherings both large and small on that day.  I recall reading about one gathering of John fans in a small town and only 4 people showed up.   But it didn't matter.  Everyone was together at the same time.  And at 2:00 eastern time the world was quite for 10 solid minutes.   The news reports said that in Central Park no one said a word and a dog didn't even bark for the entire time.   People held signs and bowed their heads in prayer for John.  Some wept for him.  In Liverpool, where it was nighttime, the mourners held candles while standing in the cold.    Can you think of any other time where the world was silent like that?    And after 10 minutes, John's voice singing Imagine could be heard and everyone cried and sang along.    It does make what happened to John go away, but I sure think it is beautiful that people loved him so much that they honored him like that.