What Would John Do?

I wish I was like John Lennon.

Years ago I when I was young I never really appreciated him, I remember reading about him and just thinking he was trying so hard to be weird, to be different, to be difficult.  I was too young to understand the genius of this man.  

Now when I think of Lennon I think of a poet, a peacemaker, a philosopher, an anarchist, a bloody genius!

I think it’s safe to say that there aren’t many artists today that can write like he did.  When he was in The Beatles he and Paul McCartney wrote amazing lyrics, my favourite being “All you need is love”.

These simple, simple words:

“All you need is love, love is all you need”.

If Taylor Swift wrote these lyrics in 2013 I would think she was being pretentious and fake but from Lennon and McCartney it’s just the truth.

The ending of The Beatles must have been a sad experience for fans of the group but Lennon’s solo career was outstanding although unusual.  In fact for me, his solo career makes more of an impression on me than his time with The Beatles.

His lyrics are all so purposefully written.  Events were happening in his life, in our lives, in the world and he was using that moment to write a song.

He used his popularity to make people stand up and pay attention to matters that perhaps wouldn’t have garnered the attention otherwise.  He used his oddness, his weirdness to try and make people understand.  
In 1969 he and Yoko gave a press conference in a bag, they called it total communication.  The idea was simple, remove the ability to see what the person looked like (young/old/black/white/long-haired) and focus solely on the ideas and opinions of the person.

When you watch the interview it’s incredibly odd, ridiculous even, but the idea behind ‘bagism’ is remarkable.

Lennon’s time living in the USA caused such a stir that the American government tried to have him deported as he was seen as a menace to the Nixon government.  His anti-war messages of peace were seen as a threat.  Let me say that again his ANTI-WAR MESSAGES OF PEACE were a threat!  

He was singing songs about peace, about how the war could be over and he was seen as a danger to Nixon’s reelection campaign.

Today, I wonder if we have forgotten the messages of this man.  Are we too busy buying televisions and big houses and trying to climb the corporate ladder in our jobs that most of us don’t like to remember some of the simple important truths?

Love, peace, family, friendships, imagination & individuality.

I’d like to think that John Lennon changed the world.

But the truth is that our world is still at war.

People are still focused on loving money instead of loving each other.

And those who view the world differently than the masses are persecuted.

If John Lennon were alive in 2013 what would he do?