I hate Tuesdays. Even the sunniest ones have something grim and gray and pitiless about them. And the only thing worse than a Tuesday is a Tuesday morning; I got cold-cocked by a Tuesday morning once, and I'm still getting over it.
It started out great. I woke up to "I Am the Walrus," which they never played on KSHE. Children are superstitious for the same reason soldiers are: you can't control your life, so everything is luck. Being 11 and newly fascinated with The Beatles, waking up to "stupid bloody Tuesday" was a sure sign of a good day to come.
Then I heard why they were playing it. John Lennon was dead.
It's scary to see adults cry, and I saw a lot of that on December 9, 1980. Lennon's murder felt personal, ominous even. Was this how we lived now, with rock stars getting shot? Was our country so full of madness that anyone who took a public stand -- anybody who dared to be real -- became a target? How did we get here? How could our country function under these conditions?
As we've discovered, it can't.
For the first 48 hours after Lennon's death, there was a sense of righteous indignation: We were going to do something, goddammit, to make sure this kind of thing didn't happen again. Fathers coming home from work shouldn't get gunned down by some random fruitcake carrying a cheap pistol. Then, the gun lobby started throwing its weight around, and President-elect Reagan started saying that maybe the solution was everybody carrying cheap pistols, and...that's the way this country has run ever since. Thirty years of nothing but stupid bloody Tuesdays, with the possible exception of the day we elected Obama. And now even he seems determined to remind us that was a Tuesday, too.
It's taken me 30 years, but I've finally figured out what I want to do about this -- to say to Fate or the Devil or Mark David Chapman: yes, of course, you can kill individual human beings, but you can't kill human creativity. You can't kill the best of what people are.
John Lennon made me think, "You know, making things, that looks like a lot of fun." He's a large part of why I'm a writer today. So this Wednesday, December 8, 2010, I'm going to donate the royalties my books earn on Amazon to the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence. Pittance or fortune, I'm sick of waiting for people I elect to do what's right.
And of course I'm just one of the millions whom Lennon affected in this way, who became writers, musicians, artists of every stripe. If you're one of us, I hope you'll check out December8thproject.com. Anyone who's made something with their name on it is welcome to join, and give money from their creations to whomever they feel is making the world better.
This modest little scheme has nothing to do with Yoko, or the Lennon estate. They've done enough already. Nor is it mindless, maudlin celebrity-worship. Quite the reverse.
If you listen to the mainstream media (good luck with that), you're probably convinced that John Lennon's major post-Beatles achievement was making politics safe for celebrities. But if you read what John Lennon actually said, his message was precisely the opposite. Here's an example:
"Make your own dream. That's the Beatles' story, isn't it?...If you want to save Peru, go save Peru. It's quite possible to do anything, but not to put it on the leaders and the parking meters. Don't expect Jimmy Carter or Ronald Reagan or John Lennon or Yoko Ono or Bob Dylan or Jesus Christ to come and do it for you. You have to do it yourself."
If we want to move forward politically, we have to apply the same principles that have put organic carrots in Walmart. We have to act individually to support what we think is right. We can't wait for the perfect leader to gift us with the perfect future. Lennon's message was consistent: Don't give your power away to someone with a microphone, no matter how wonderful they seem to be. We've been down that road, and it doesn't work. Figure out what you believe, and do it yourself.
"If the Beatles or the Sixties had a message, it was to learn to swim. Period. And once you learn to swim, swim. The people who are hung up on the Beatles' and the Sixties' dream missed the whole point when the Beatles' and the Sixties' dream became the point."
Follow Michael Gerber on Twitter: www.twitter.com/mgerber937
his assassin from waiting outside his apartment building. I remember the immense Memorial
Service in Central Park and miss John Lennon's message of peace to this day. RIP, John.
Thanks, Mr. Gerber, for your wonderful article.
See my tribute to him is displayed everytime I play the guitar. He inspired me and countless others to play the guitar. It brings me closer to him than in any other way. Its difficult to explain to non-musicians...
In the documentary, "Imagine", he addresses this . He tells a fan that he wasn't writing music and lyrics for his fans, but for himself, and if his fans could relate then so much the better.
As a music lover, I was inspired by The Beatles to learn how to play the guitar, which is one of my greatest joys.
I believe that what really died that day was the notion that his generation was really going to change the world for the better. Instead they sold out for Ronald Reagan. John would have called them on the carpet for that......
You admonish us to not remember him for his politics and then you close your comment with a citation to what you imagine his political reaction would be.
Still, I love Lenon, too - not as deity, but as a man to be admired.
But what is new is that when a crowd of bystanders looks at tragedy and is frozen into inaction, the one person who steps forward to do what is right is a hero. And is quickly followed by all the other hero's who have had their spells holding them in thrall broken.
Step out people.
The problem of the Left is that they take that to a group or as a cause for government, and not as a calling for the individual.
The Rights ideology of individual responsibility and the need to help others as a personal calling is more in line with great thinkers than the generalized ideology of the Left who advocate government programs but not individual responsibility.
Sacrificing time and treasure to help others has been shown in numerous studies to be much higher by those that consider themselves conservative. Conservatives do NOT advocate that government programs should have the role of helping the poor, but they do feel a personal responsibility.
Arthur Brooks, the author of a book on donors to charity, “Who Really Cares,” cites data that households headed by conservatives give 30 percent more to charity than households headed by liberals.
A study by Google found an even greater disproportion: average annual contributions reported by conservatives were almost double those of liberals.
Other research has reached similar conclusions. The “generosity index” from the Catalogue for Philanthropy typically finds that red states are the most likely to give to nonprofits, while Northeastern states are least likely to do so.
Conservatives also appear to be more generous than liberals in nonfinancial ways. People in red states are considerably more likely to volunteer for good causes, and conservatives give blood more often. If liberals and moderates gave blood as often as conservatives, the American blood supply would increase by 45 percent.
Well, you know
We all want to change your head
You tell me it's the institution
Well, you know
You better free you mind instead
But if you go carrying pictures of chairman Mao
You ain't going to make it with anyone anyhow
Don't you know it's gonna be all right
Be the one you are waiting for.