Well, We All Shine On

Now playing: "Instant Karma" - John Lennon

"Life is What Happens When You're Busy Making Other Plans."

I was talking to my boss this morning and casually made that statement in regard to schedules being tossed by the wayside after unforeseen events.

My boss paused for a second and a pensive look came across her face. I briefly felt horror and I searched for a reason why that seemingly harmless statement would've offended her.

She asked me "you know what day it is today?"

Me, blankly, "no." It was 8:30am and frankly, while I'm awake, "alert" doesn't often happen until after 11am or so.

My boss, a British Ex-Pat, replied quietly "Lennon was shot 30 years ago today."

Click.

I was six when John Lennon was assassinated outside his home in New York City. I wish I could share a profound story of how moved I was when I heard. I don't remember it being discussed at home. Honestly, I don't have the best memory and many things during that time of my life escape me.

The older I grew and the more I began to appreciate music, the more I absolutely understood the impact of John Lennon and the Beatles not just on music, but on pop culture, politics, even society at large. His message was so simple I even hear people mock it; "Give Peace a Chance." Have we all become so jaded in our conflict-ridden world that the concept of sitting down to discuss our differences is passe? We seem to live in a world where escalation is second nature and the preferred response to not even just war, but to conflict in general.

I'm far from a peace-loving hippy, but it just seems to me that Lennon had it right all along.

His message resonated across our entire landscape once upon a time. In a moment that transcended sports, legendary Monday Night Football Announcer Howard Cosell briefly broke into coverage of the New England Patriots/Miami Dolphins game with one of the most famous calls in sportscasting history.

Before the break, Cosell talked with booth partner Frank Gifford and discussed whether or not a sports event was the place to report this kind of monumental news.

Gifford responded "If we know it, we've got to do it....it's a tragic moment. This is going to shake up the whole world."

And so it did.

In his last interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Lennon stated "I have no interest in being a dead fucking hero."

We all had other plans for John Lennon. Life got in the way.