"If someone thinks that love and peace is a cliché that must have been left behind in the Sixties, that's his problem. Love and peace are eternal." -- John Lennon

"Guilt for being rich, and guilt thinking that perhaps love and peace isn't enough and you have to go and get shot or something."-- John Lennon, 1980.

John Lennon would have been 65 this October, a year past wondering if his wife would still need him and still feed him. Paul McCartney will be 64 next June. It was 25 years ago today that Mark David Chapman fired four bullets and killed a 40 year old John Lennon.

I was born in 1961, and, like many of us, saw some great people get killed by some crazy folks with guns. I barely remember John F. Kennedy's assassination, I do remember my parents watching television, being sad and telling me to be quiet while I was playing. I was all of seven when Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy were felled by assassins. My younger brother, just over a year old had his first haircut, "a Bobby Kennedy," the day he was shot.

Then George Wallace, Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan each survived the attacks of assassins. It seemed that perhaps the tumult and craziness of the period had ended. We made it, right? Wrong. I think we all can recall where we were when we heard the news that John Lennon had been shot and killed. It's funny how a trauma sears itself into our collective memory, isn't it?

As a kid growing up with four older siblings, I was exposed to the Beatles at an early age. When they were on The Ed Sullivan Show, we were forced to be quieter than we were in church. The evenings that "A Hard Days Night" and "Help" came to network television, all seats were spoken for in the living room. The Beatles dictated what was cool, even though they were just four kids from England who spent the rest of their lives trying to figure out what happened to them during those years.

My favorite Beatles period was the time "Rubber Soul" and "Revolver" were released, 1965 and 1966. I was too young to "get" "Sgt. Pepper" and "Magical Mystery Tour." The yellow and orange swirled 45s from Capitol records received a lot of use on our record players.

When the Apple records label was formed and the group split up, we all wondered why it had to end. There's a quote from John Lennon that I'm paraphrasing that says that the Beatles were all about teaching us to swim, "after you learn to swim, you swim."

Lennon was an enigma to many, hated by as many as loved him. His marriage to Yoko Ono will probably never be understood by most of us, but if something makes a person happy and content, who are we to question it?

I remember how excited I was in 1980 when Lennon began recording again. I bought "Double Fantasy" as soon as I could and tried to understand what he was saying through his music. I also recall being depressed after his murder.

I think what angers me the most even today, 25 years later, that it was all so senseless. It seems to me that there are some people that go through a great deal of turmoil and trouble in their lives and just when they get to a point where they are content and happy, they are taken away from us. I'm mad I didn't get to hear more from this misunderstood, gentle soul.

But the fact that I can tell you this means that he did get through to me. I can swim, and so can you. It's just more fun swimming with others.

As always, I welcome your comments. You can reach me by email at tstangl@lemarscomm.net, telephone 712-546-7031, x40 or toll free 1-800-728-0066 x40.

Thanks for reading, I'll keep in touch. Feel free to do the same.