JANUARY

JANUARY LOOKS FORWARD AND BACK, and is the month of change for so many. January the 7th is the day of the year when most affairs begin and most adultery is committed. January the 2nd is my birthday and is a day on which I have always been fortunate enough not to have worked. Most of these January seconds have been bright, clear days when I could sit down and think about the year that had just ended and the year to come. But I never really did much of that.

 

JANUARY THE EIGHTH is the birthday of David Bowie and of Elvis Presley, who is now dead, and will thus not be celebrating the event. History tells me that he is a man who changed the world, but he was a little too early for me to feel his influence.

 

ANOTHER DEAD “ROCKER” is John Lennon. His death may have been more of a shock to the world than that of Elvis. Lennon did not die fat, puffy-faced, old and ugly. But what he said about Elvis Presley’s death has always stayed in my mind. “What do you think about Elvis Presley’s death, Mr Lennon”, asked some American TV reporter. “I thought he died when he joined the army,” was Lennon’s response.

 

AND WE ALL DIE WHEN we join the army. We all die when we want to kill someone or something else. If the spirit of John Lennon existed then no one would join the army, no one would pick up guns and no one would kill another human being just because we were told to do so. But that is just not going to happen, is it? Certainly not in Britain and the USA.