30 years ago

It was cold, very very cold. I was watching Monday Night Football with Frank Gifford and Howard Cosell. It was late when Cosell announced the shooting and death of John Lennon. I was stunned. I had become used to seeing John and Sean playing in the rustic part of the park now called Strawberry Fields near his Dakota home.

In shock, I put on a lot of clothes and my warmest coat and left my east 71st Street apartment and walked across the park to the Dakota to join the vigil already begun by others. A boom box was playing his music and a large crowd was gathering across from the Dakota. Flowers began to amass at the spot he was shot. Every evening of Dec 8, I have made my way to the Dakota to pay my respects to John and to deposit a white rose on the appropriate place for those pilgrims.

I have gone alone, I have gone with friends. I always bring a single white rose with names of people from around the world who know I do this every Dec 8.

Imagine Peace