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Re: Monday ramblings--When I'm sixty four!

By: bridgebuilder in ALEA | Recommend this post (0)
Mon, 18 Mar 13 10:44 PM | 43 view(s)
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Msg. 12920 of 54959
(This msg. is a reply to 12916 by joe-taylor)

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"We all remember John and how he died after trusting the city of New York too much as he was shot to death outside of his apartment building in the city."

There are so many things to say about your ignorant commentary of NYC and these events.

The first is to point out the fact that Chapman was not a New Yorker in the least but a born again christian from texas, georgia and chicago who flew to NYC for the sole purpose of killing lennon.

The second is a question. if a person unaffiliated with religion walks into a church and shoots someone, would you say that person died after they trusted the church too much?

The third is another question. Why did you mischaracterize the events? Certainly a god fearing man like yourself wouldn't intentionally slander an innocent group of people in order to shine the light away from a religious man's homicidal nature. That only leaves that you were ignorant of the facts...which is a dangerous thing to be for someone who likes to give their opinion so much.

Please note in bold below how Lennon made it on to Chapmans hit list. Please descend from the high horse.

bb


WIKI:
Chapman was born in Fort Worth, Texas. His father, David Curtis Chapman, was a staff sergeant in the U.S. Air Force, and his mother, Kathryn Elizabeth (née Pease), was a nurse. His younger sister, Susan, was born seven years later. Chapman stated that as a boy, he lived in fear of his father, who he said was physically abusive towards his mother and unloving towards him. Chapman began to fantasize about having king-like power over a group of imaginary "little people" who lived in the walls of his bedroom. Chapman attended Columbia High School in Decatur, Georgia. By the time he was fourteen, Chapman was using drugs, skipping classes, and he once ran away from home to live on the streets for two weeks. He said he was bullied at school because he was not a good athlete.[4]

In 1971, Chapman became a born again Christian, and distributed Biblical tracts. He'd grown up idolizing Lennon, but turned on him after becoming born-again; like many born-again Christians, he was angered at Lennon's claim that the Beatles were "more popular than Jesus." He met his first girlfriend, another Christian named Jessica Blankenship. He began work as a YMCA summer camp counselor; he was very popular with the children, who nicknamed him "Nemo". He won an award for Outstanding Counselor and was made assistant director.[4] Those who knew him in the caretaking professions unanimously called him an outstanding worker.[5] A friend recommended The Catcher in the Rye to Chapman, and the story eventually took on great personal significance for him, to the extent that he reportedly wished to model his life after its protagonist, Holden Caulfield.[4] After graduating from Columbia High School, Chapman moved for a time to Chicago and played guitar in churches and Christian nightspots while his friend did impersonations. He worked successfully for World Vision with Vietnamese refugees at a resettlement camp at Fort Chaffee in Arkansas, after a brief visit to Lebanon for the same work. He was named an area coordinator and a key aide to the program director, David Moore, who later said Chapman cared deeply for the children and worked hard. Chapman accompanied Moore to meetings with government officials, and President Gerald Ford shook his hand.[5]

Chapman joined his girlfriend, Jessica Blankenship, as a student at Covenant College, an evangelical Presbyterian liberal arts college in Lookout Mountain, Georgia. However, Chapman fell behind in his studies and became obsessed with guilt over having an affair.[6][7] He started having suicidal thoughts and began to feel like a failure. He dropped out of Covenant College, and his girlfriend broke off their relationship soon after. He returned to work at the resettlement camp, but left after an argument. Chapman worked as a security guard, eventually taking a week-long course to qualify as an armed guard. He again attempted college but dropped out. He went to Hawaii and then began contemplating suicide.[6] In 1977, Chapman attempted suicide by carbon monoxide asphyxiation. He connected a hose to his car's exhaust pipe, but the hose melted and the attempt failed. A psychiatrist admitted him to Castle Memorial Hospital for clinical depression. Upon his release, he began working at the hospital.[8] His parents began divorce proceedings, and his mother joined Chapman in Hawaii.[7]

In 1978, Chapman went on a six-week trip around the world, inspired partly by the film Around the World in Eighty Days, visiting such places as Tokyo, Seoul, Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangkok, Delhi, Beirut, Geneva, London, Paris, and Dublin. He began a relationship with his travel agent, a Japanese-American woman named Gloria Abe. They married on June 2, 1979. Chapman went to work at Castle Memorial Hospital as a printer, working alone rather than with staff and patients. He was fired by the Castle Memorial Hospital, rehired, then got into a shouting match with a nurse and quit. He took a job as a night security guard and began drinking heavily.[8] Chapman developed a series of obsessions, including artwork, The Catcher in the Rye, music, and John Lennon. He also started talking with the imaginary 'little people' again. In September 1980, he wrote a letter to a friend, Lynda Irish, in which he stated, "I'm going nuts." He signed the letter, "The Catcher in the Rye".[9]

[edit] The plan to murder John LennonThree months prior to the murder, Chapman started planning to kill Lennon while in Hawaii. He claimed he chose Lennon after seeing him on the cover of The Beatles' album, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. He also said that he had a further list of people in mind, including Johnny Carson, Elizabeth Taylor, George C. Scott, and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, but that John Lennon seemed to be the easiest to find. He separately claimed that he was particularly infatuated by Lennon. Chapman's planning has been described as 'muddled'.[10] Chapman went to New York in October 1980, intending to kill Lennon.[9]

After being inspired by the film Ordinary People, Chapman returned to Hawaii, telling his wife he had been obsessed with killing Lennon. He showed her the gun and bullets, but she failed to inform the police or mental health services. He made an appointment to see a clinical psychologist, but instead flew back to New York on December 6, 1980.[7] He reports having re-enacted scenes from The Catcher in the Rye.

On December 7, 1980, the day before the killing, Chapman accosted singer-songwriter James Taylor at the 72nd Street subway station. According to Taylor, "The guy had sort of pinned me to the wall and was glistening with maniacal sweat and talking some freak speak about what he was going to do and his stuff with how John was interested, and he was going to get in touch with John Lennon."[11]


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The above is a reply to the following message:
Monday ramblings--When I'm sixty four!
By: joe-taylor
in ALEA
Mon, 18 Mar 13 4:52 PM
Msg. 12916 of 54959

When I’m sixty four!


Well! Today is march eighteenth and I’m sixty four!

In 1967 I was eighteen years old when the Beatles published “When I’m sixty four” on their Sergeant Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band album. Parts of it have remained with me throughout my life but it was never on my top of the list songs. To tell you the truth, I never thought that I would make it through to even the age of sixty, much less sixty four. I always thought that I would leave this earth at fifty nine. And, I almost did at fifty seven. The only thing that saved me from death was the grace of a very loving and forgiving God who specializes in second chances and beyond.

But, none-the-less, here I am at sixty four. The Beatles song reflects on what it would be like for two lifetime mates to still be together at sixty four. None of the real Beatles experienced that and the one who might have come closest to it was John Lennon with his Yoko Ono. We all remember John and how he died after trusting the city of New York too much as he was shot to death outside of his apartment building in the city. We remember John and how he and Yoko were enjoying the simple pleasures of making bread and other daily chores as celebrated in some of their songs together.

It is interesting that none of the Beatles made a lifetime marriage with anyone because I never managed that feat myself either. There was someone once that I could have seen myself doing those things with but life can be so cruel sometimes.

On a lighter note, what I might have thought that sixty four might have looked like in 1967 is nothing like what it really is today. Old people were old at sixty four in 1967! When I told my barber, a good judge of people as most hair care people learn to be, that I would be sixty four on this date, he simply said that he would have never guessed that to be a fact.

I like to look at the lady in the commercial for one of AARP’s products who says that she is just in her sixties and has a long life ahead and big plans. I hope she gets to fulfill those plans! I was told a few years ago that I would have a reduced life expectancy and not to make any long term plans. And then there is the story of my getting stopped at a railroad crossing and hearing a small voice inside of my head telling me to count the number of cars in the train that was beginning to cross ahead of me. When I finished the count the voice said that is how old you will live to be. There were 103 cars in that train. When one looks at sixty four compared to 103 there might be a ways to go. But I also remember waking up early just ten years ago today and thinking that I might be tired of it all. There was a reason for that which you will, God willing, read about in tomorrows ramblings piece.

And so, we look forward today to the calls from friends who will wish me well. And we will watch a St. Louis Cardinals baseball game from the state of Florida as they are in the midst of their spring training schedule in anticipation of another season in their one hundred and twenty one year history. If we are to go forward to 103 we cannot see that happening without the St. Louis Cardinals being a very big part of it. The year that the Beatles published their “64” song, the Cardinals were to appear in another World Series and we could think of nothing better than for that to happen again this year.

Hope springs eternal in the spring and it will be upon us day after tomorrow!

And so we wish everyone who reads this a very fine day this day after the green beer and the day before the twenty fifth anniversary of a marriage that lasted only thirteen years. There is the sweet and then there is the bittersweet and we take it all in stride as we meander along our way. And we thank a generous God for all he has done for us through the many years and what he may continue to do for us in the times to come.

And we thank the Beatles for giving us something special to write about on this birthday before we might, God willing, turn that magical age of sixty five!


IOVHO,


Regards,

Joe


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