book- Lennon

(Place on page 50 after para 2)

It was around this time in my life when yet another terrible event occured. Like the Kennedy assassination, the night of December 8, 1980 would live in my soul forever.

I was watching Monday Night Football as millions did back then. Suddenly Howard Cosell broke into the game that John Lennon had been shot and killed in New York City. There was very few details yet. The Internet didn't exist in 1980, nor did social media like Twitter or cable news networks. Everything seemed slow, especially compared to now. For once I couldn't wait until the football game was over so I could get more information from our local news and Nightline.

I loved The Beatles and their music. I remember spending the night scouring radio stations for any updated news. Many stations played nothing but Beatle songs all night long. I began to appreciate their music more that night.

I recalled how much fun The Beatles were, how happy they made everyone when they came to America  to appear on the Ed Sullivan show in early 1964. The world needed The Beatles after the JFK assassination. It was now hard to imagine that John had been murdered too. Why?

Later  I learned more chilling details, and the heartbreaking sadness overwhelmed me. As they wheeled the morally wounded Lennon into the emergency room, it was reported that "All My Loving" was being played overhead on the hospital radio system.

Again, just like in 1963,  I was  living through  not only a historical event that would change the world forever, but also a personal sorrow. I never met John Lennon, yet somehow he was a part of me. The Beatles were always there.  And now,  unlike my fading youth, John would remain frozen in time, forever young, tragically robbed of his old age. The world would be a sadder place now. and life would never be the same again.