I was home for Winter Break and watching Monday Night Football with my father when Howard Coswell broke in with the news......... John Lennon has been shot to death this evening in New York City. December 8, 1980.
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I was home for Winter Break and watching Monday Night Football with my father when Howard Coswell broke in with the news......... John Lennon has been shot to death this evening in New York City. December 8, 1980.
Seems like only yesterday when this dreadful news broke. It was especially sad for me because my good friend Andy Peebles, a renowned UK Soul music dj had just interviewed him the day before for the BBC. The tapes are owned by the BBC and were broadcast a few days later. Andy has no legal right to access those tapes which are legally owned by the BBC who seem reluctant to release them for Public consumption. Strange.Quote:
Originally Posted by marv2
Interesting, I was in 9th grade but I remember it being on a Monday.
You know how big of a deal you are when Howard Cosell interrupts a football game to announce your death!
Rest in peace, Mr. Lennon. I'm sure my father and some of my brothers remember that night...
I remember that night & though I hadn't followed The Beatles for years, I liked them as a kid. I just thought "JOHN LENNON?!?!?! Who in the world would want to kill John Lennon?!?!"
It made no sense then & it makes no sense now. But it does highlight the fact that then, just as now, America has to address the problem with the mentally ill, as well as their ability to wreak havoc on our streets.
It seems to be a problem that's not taken very seriously until something like this happens to a famous person & truthfully, not even then.
juice: I agree with your statement. Too many crazies walking the streets. But both political parties do not want to pay the full price to keep our streets safe.Quote:
Originally Posted by juicefree20
I show my students how to protect themselves.
John Lennon; thanks for the great music.
edafan
Amen! I remember I was to be visiting my college girlfriend who lived in NYC over holiday break. I could not get my father to cough up the money after that news broke.Quote:
Originally Posted by juicefree20
Edafan, I remember when NYC began shutting down programs, shutting down hospitals & I remember when they basically began throwing people out into the streets, pretty much to fend for themselves.Quote:
Originally Posted by edafan
I also remember when vets were coming home with what's now called PTS & still others with some serious drug problems. Many of them returned to families whom were ill-equipped to deal with the problems that came with mental & emotional damage such as that & for some reason that I can't quite place my finger on, while we've always had the mentally ill amongst us, it seems as though as though that population really exploded in the 80s, even before the crack era.
Look at what we're dealing with in N.Y.C., with guys running around slashing women. In fact, they just caught the guy & arrested him in Chelsea & are walking him out of the pct. as I type this.
But seriously, this is a problem that they really need to deal with because on a daily basis, riding the train or even the bus, find us sitting near someone who's ranting & raving to themselves [[usually about the CIA or some government agency) & while I'm taking care on my own mentally handicapped sister, I wouldn't allow her to venture out into the streets or on the train by herself. Not so much because she's a physical threat to anyone else, but because I know how someone talking to themselves & pointing at people can be unsettling to people who don't know what she's capable of doing.
But N.Y.C. is at critical mass & unfortunately, we have a lot of time bombs out here & you never know what any of them are capable of doing. And unfortunately, unlike my sister, many of these people are aggressive & quite capable of trying to hurt or kill you.
None of us should have to be subjected to any of that because it could find us in a kill or be killed situation. Not to sound callous, but there's no reason that their problem should have to become my problem.
This COUNTRY is failing our mentally ill. So much for "family values".
I remember the shocked faces of the announcers & their eyes filled with tears as they reported the story. If the assassinations of JFK, MLK & RFK were the signal that the relative naivety of the Eisenhower years were over, the murder of Lennon placed the final nail into that coffin.Quote:
Originally Posted by marv2
His death was like the final nail hammered into the coffin of that whole "Make Love, Not War" "Love Generation" & ushered us squarely into the beginning of the "Me Generation". A few years later saw the rise of unparalleled Wall Street greed, financial scandals, the defunding of critical programs & a few years later, the crack era & the so-called "war" on drugs, which couldn't have been much of a "war", as crack filled our streets & let's not talk about Oliver North & all of that.
While never truly a rose garden, one has to admit that American society & their compassion as a whole, has been trending downward since the 80s & rather decidedly, at that.
Juice, do you remember what happened not long after that? In January '81 Reagan was shot and then a few months later...the Pope! I stopped watching the news after that for about 5 months. I tuned back again just as Walter Cronkite was making is farewell newscast. It was just too much!Quote:
Originally Posted by juicefree20