Imagine, it was 25 years ago

For several decades I worked in the Xmas tree business and for a number of years brought them to Boise and sold them at a shopping mall. I hardly bothered to cook in the little trailer on the lot and ate at the fast food places down the road. On this morning it was in one of those places that I heard that someone had shot and killed John Lennon.
It shocked me that it shocked me so much.
After all, in 1980 it had been a decade since the Beatles broke up. Lots of prominent people had been killed over the years.
It felt the same as when Kennedy was assasinated. It felt like innocence was lost. A lot of us grew up with his music and it might seem quaint to younger people today, but I thought then and still think now that the Beatles were the most important musical group that ever existed. Maybe not the best or longest lasting or most prolific, but the most important. It was much more of a loss because of that.
But not to some loutish yahoo in the restaurant. He laughed and remarked he was glad Lennon was dead because he had said one time that "the Beatles were more popular than god".
Even though I knew the fuckwad was quoting him out of context, I still wanted to punch his lights out.