John Lennon's Death Traumatized America

"I just fired my body guard. It is my rationale...If they're goona get ya, they're goona get you anyway." John Winston Lennon three weeks before his murder, December 8, 1980. Lennon was a musician, artist, activist, and poet. Because Lennon's life was valued to many Americans, Lennon's death emotionally shook thousands and traumatized America's people. The bond Lennon shared with America, the timing of the death, and the irony of the crime, bruised the hearts of many in America, leaving society full of confusion and heart-ache.

Lennon's life had an ongoing history with America's people and was a major factor in why his death was felt so bad. In 1963, after President John F. Kennedy had been assassinated, the people needed someone they could relate to and love. This is where Lennon fit in. As part of the famous rock-n-roll group, "The Beatles", Lennon's spirit and vivacious heart seeped into the souls of many mourning teens after Kennedy's death. Lennon became somewhat a "Legend" and he was someone people in America could not help but love.

During the later years of Lennon's life was when the people started to really love him. Eventually, The Beatles started to lose some of their popularity and Lennon's life became more open. He drifted away from being just a "Beatle", into a real person with real problems and feelings. Society started seeing Lennon as a person and society started to love him. Lennon was a hero that connected to people differently than any other performer had before. Scott Spencer of Rolling Stone magazine remarked, "This power he gave us...he allowed us to know him...We somehow knew everything he meant, everything."

Mark Chapman was born in 1955 and is living in a prison to this day in Attica State Prison in upstate New York, where he works as a janitor. Mark David Chapman used a Charter Arms .38 Special to take out John outside of his apartments, the Dakota, in New York City. Mark Chapman was born in Texas and raised in Georgia. He was a Beatle fan from day one and he even had his own band to try to emulate the Beatles. Mark was aborn again christian like most teens at those times who loved the Beatles. But why did this man pull the trigger on John Lennon? Mark had loved the Beatles through thick and thin but believe it or not only one quote or message that John Lennon set him off. "We're ore popular then Jesus now." That is what set him off. From that day forward he stopped listening to the Beatles.

After that Chapman lost contact with his friends and started moving around the country working at various jobs and studying religions in his spare time usaually. In 1977 Chapman was got trying to commit suicide but was stopped before he could go through with it. In 1979, he married a travel aganet and moved to Hawaii. When in Hawii with his wife he had some pretty srtict rules. He insisted that she never watch tv nor read the newspaper so that she would not hear about the Beatles an dnot get overwhelmed like he once had been. He had always wanted to be like John Lennon all his life, and he finally realized that he couldn't be Lennon. So he became his own Lennon. Chapman first bought a Charter Arms .38-caliber pistol special and then borrowed $2,500 from a credit union and flew to New York City on December 6, 1980. Many ask how was he able to undertake an extended vacation around the world in 1978, then return to Hawaii. then fly to New York, take up residence in a plush hotel and spend weeks stalking John Lennon. By only working a minimum-wage job as a maintenance man in Hawaii. He bgan to spend long hours stationed outside the Dakota, where Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono and their son lived. On Dec. 8 Lennon was leaving the Dakota to go to a recording studio, when Chapman for the first time came up to him and had him autograph his most recalbum he had made, which was Double Fantasy.

Lennon's death not only shook the ordinary citizens in society, but also other famous people. The following evening after Lennon's assassination, Bruce Springsteen opened his show by telling the audience, "If it wasn't for John Lennon a lot of us would be in some place much different... it's hard to come out here and play tonight, but there's nothing else to do."

This statement by Springsteen promotes the idea that Lennon's death shook society. Common-folk cried, mourned and dealt with his death by playing Lennon's music and reminiscing of the past. Musicians sung and played out their sadness through their poetry, thus, connecting with the ordinary citizens. The media conveyed their sorrow by talking and sharing Lennon's history and life with those who were looking for comfort. Not often does society come together in mourning asking the same questions and trying to understand the same things. This crucial fact that everyone was brought together showed the impact the death had on society. The questions people were asking were that of irony. John Lennon sung previously to his death, "Imagine all the people, living life in peace". This statement is in definite contrast to his death. How could America conceivably understand how a man of such promise, love, peace, and vivacity be slain in such a brutal fashion? Even today, people try to understand why a man who promoted peace throughout his life could be killed in such a heinous, hateful way. The irony of peace during a time when Lennon's movements became more abrupt and more understanding was difficult to conceive. Not long before his death, Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono, stayed in Bed for one week to take a stand against violence. Lennon voiced, "Our life is an art. That's what the bed-ins were. When we got married, we knew our honeymoon was going to be public, anyway, so we decided to use it to make a statement. We sat in bed and talked to reporters for seven days. It was hilarious. In effect, we were doing a commercial for peace on the front page of the papers instead of a commercial for war."

To this day, Lennon's life has an impact on society. People look for reassurance and find strength through Lennon. We live in a world of confusion, depression, violence, and racism, but those who look for peace turn to Lennon's life. Even though Lennon is not physically present to share his views and preach peace, for many he is the life and soul of their spirits. Lennon was asked in an interview in a Rolling Stone as to where he wanted to end up when he was 64 and if he had a picture of it. John replied, "No, no. I hope we're a nice old couple living off the coast of Ireland or something like that - looking at our scrapbook of madness." Lennon never got the chance to look and reflect at his scrapbook of madness. Lennon wasn't given time enough to know his son Julian as he would have liked. Lennon didn't get to flourish all his ideas to the world as he intended. But Lennon did leave society with thousands who promoted peace from him and left society with fond and self-encouraging memories. Lennon's life was a great journey but his death affected society greatly. Lennon's death emotionally shook thousands and traumatized America's people and still plays a role in lives today. We can only "imagine" where we'd be if Lennon were with us today. Spencer established, "We are a better people because of Lennon but lost without him."