Today is the 25th anniversary of the murder of John Lennon. Shrinkwrapped – surprise of surprises – was on duty on the night of December 8th, 1980, when Lennon’s killer was brought in. He has posted an account of his evaluation of Mark David Chapman:
| ...I spoke briefly with Chapman, did a cursory physical (part of the admissions process), wrote some orders and left. He was, in a word, remarkably unremarkable. He expression was vacant and his eyes were dull. He spoke softly in a near monotone and answered my questions without any elaboration. Perhaps in retrospect I am adding to my memory but I recall telling my wife when I came home the next day that he had struck me as a deeply empty person. |
6 comments:
And yesterday was the anniversary of Pearl Harbor, but I didn't hear a peep from anybody.
Also, the question of 'why are the flags at half-mast?' was overheard far more often than I would have liked.
Hey, Jesse--
You need to start hanging with the old ones...those who are left. They all still talk about it...where they were, what they were doing...
Surprising choice of lyrics for your title.
John didn't believe in much did he?
Redneck -- I used that lyric because it was one not included in Shrinkwrapped's post.
When he said it, he was trying to apprise his fans of the truth: that the Beatles legend was all hogwash, and that they should forget it.
But he couldn't do anything about it -- he had millions of religiously devoted utopian-minded lunatic fans, and he still does.
sorry, didn't follow the link to shrinkwrapped before. I see he also cut it off right before John professed his love for his wife, who was at the time being called ugly and blamed for the demise of the Beatles.
John didn't believe in much, but he did put too much faith in the concept of peace, something I haven't done in 25 years now.
I grew up viewing life through the gospel of John & Paul, but his point blank execution on the streets of America, during the same timespan my fellow Americans were being held hostage in Iran, and my leader was too timid to free them, shattered my delusion of the possibility of domestic or world peace before all the enemies of peace had been exterminated.
I have to believe that as John saw Chapman squeeze the trigger, he too suddenly realized everything he had stood for was BS, and that evil had triumphed again. Despite all John's efforts to instill peace and brotherly love into my young impressionable mind, his lasting legacy has been to further my hatred for the Mark David Chapmans of our world who are still breathing our air.
Dymphna--
There aren't many 'old ones' on a college campus. However, I did have an excellent conversation a few days back with a man who served as a Ranger in Vietnam. It was refreshing to talk to somebody who wasn't born in the 80's.
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