December 8 this year is the 30th anniversary of John Lennon's tragic death. I can't remember how I got the news, but I do remember how terribly sad and angry it made me feel. Lennon was at the time an epitome of free spirit, tolerance and the peace movement. What mattered to me most - at that sensitive age of early high-school - was that this brilliant man, who was all about peace and love, was murdered violently for no reason at all, by a delusional blockhead. That was really difficult to believe, and to accept as a fact. His death still seems absolutely pointless and absurd: he was beginning to find his new place in life, had just released a new album, and had many plans and ideas for his future, which never came to be.
That night I cut out Lennon's B&W photo from my large Beatles collection, framed it in black, fixed a safety pin on its back and thus made myself a remembrance badge to wear to school. Believe it or not, but at those 'ancient' times it felt equally important to share your feelings with others as it does now, except that now you do it on Facebook :)
When some years later I was standing on the very spot where John Lennon was killed, part of me still couldn't believe all this had really happened. Now that I can watch on YouTube how these events were reported at the time, those feelings come back with all their strength. Here is the BBC's coverage:
A bit longer news item from the American TV channel ABC (with some background info about Lennon, and a passing mention of historic events in Poland):
