Imagining John Lennon

John Lennon would have celebrated his 80th birthday today, 9 October 2020, had he not died 40 years ago.
He could never have imagined he’d only live to be 40 years old, because a deranged fan would shoot and kill him outside his home – New York City’s famous Dakota Apartments – on 8 December 1980.
That tragedy saddened millions of fans, dreamers and darers, and had a major impact on pop culture.

That day he had to stop making plans (“Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”)
He stopped dreaming (“A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality.”) and looking for peace (“Peace is not something you wish for; It’s something you make, something you do, something you are, and something you give away”) or happiness (“When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life.”)
He couldn’t love any more (“It matters not who you love, where you love, why you love, when you love or how you love, it matters only that you love.”) but became an icon, trapped in amber at 40: “Everybody loves you when you’re six foot in the ground.”

From Wikimedia Commons, John_Lennon-约翰列侬-画中的日记-罗一丁

“La vita è ciò che ti capita mentre sei impegnato a fare altri progetti.”
“Un sogno che fai da solo è solo un sogno. Un sogno che fai insieme ad altri è realtà.”
“La pace non è qualcosa che desideri; è qualcosa che crei, qualcosa che fai, qualcosa che sei tu stesso, e qualcosa che regali”
“Quando avevo 5 anni, mia madre mi diceva che la felicità era la chiave della vita. Quando a scuola mi hanno chiesto cosa volevo diventare da grande ho scritto “felice”. Mi hanno detto che non avevo capito il compito, e ho risposto che loro non capivano la vita.”
“Non importa chi ami, dove ami, perché ami, quando ami o come ami, importa solo che tu ami”
“Tutti ti amano quando sei due metri sotto terra.”