It’s axiomatic that our heroes have feet of clay.
After all, they’re only human; they possess the same failings and fears we do. Fame often magnifies those failings and fears, and the contrast between fact and fantasy can be shocking. The Great American Writer known for his acute perception and compassion is a paranoid narcissist. The most glamorous marriage in Hollywood collapses under the weight of rampant infidelity. A singer who urged us to “imagine no possessions” has more money and properties than Quaker has oats.
Imagine Image by Iñaki del Olmo for Unsplash
How do we resolve the clash between the public figure and the private person? You might stop reading the writer’s work – or you might not. You might think the Hollywood husband is right and the wife is wrong – or you might not. You might consider the singer a hypocrite and shift your musical enthusiasm to some other musician – or you might not.
But you don’t swat the writer’s house. You don’t hire some thug to beat up the cheating husband. You don’t still the jangling thoughts in your head by hunting down the musician as he returns from an evening’s work in the studio.
Unless you’re Mark David Chapman and the musician is John Lennon.
These observations are prompted by the ever-increasing level of violence in American life – violence both verbal and physical. You shared a social media post about the separation between church and state and you’re being bombarded with hate messages and death threats? Heard about the latest school shooting? No? It’s okay – another one’s coming soon.
I’m thinking of John Lennon’s all-too-short life and how he embodied his era – and ours. Feminist / Gender Studies. (His years as a “house husband” during his time away from the music industry; Yoko was the boss personally and professionally.) Immigration status. (Lennon spent years pursuing his green card while fighting deportation to England.) Politically-motivated surveillance. (The FBI’s files on Lennon weighed 26 pounds, according to Jon Wiener’s Come Together: John Lennon in His Time.) And gun violence.
Lennon supported a number of left-wing causes over the years. His commitment was always based on emotion; he was no theorist or deep thinker and, when his interest in a cause had run its course, he’d drop it and walk off in search of a new political panacea. But he wasn’t a dunce, and his fame meant that whatever he was thinking or doing would receive a lot of attention. It’s not hard to see why J. Edgar Hoover worked so hard to kick Lennon out of the country.
It’s also not hard to see how little has changed in the 45 years following Lennon’s murder; how, in fact, so many things have only gotten worse. A childish desire for revenge dictates Federal spending. Politically-driven violence is up. Strange, isn’t it?
More Lennons are what we really need. More Bowies.
Imagine that…
