Lennon in Heaven

I'm subbing in a 7th grade art class at a ritzy San Francisco private school. (More on this place and other related issues another time.)

Kid name of Walker showed a girl, Caroline, his drawing. She said, "it looks like John Lennon in heaven."

I thought that had a wonderful ring to it -- John Lennon in heaven. Lyrical.

It also seems quite appropriate. If there is such a place in the after life I'd think the former Beatle would have to be a very serious candidate for entrance. He was, after all, about nothing if not peace. Giving it a chance was an important theme of his. Heaven and peace are synonymous in my book.

Weird how some fundamentalists will claim that heaven is solely reserved for those who have accepted Jesus Christ as their lord and savior -- he loves you, by the way. If you don't accept him well, sorry, you're going to burn in hell for eternity where there'll be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. Meanwhile though, he loves you.

I haven't reached any of my own conclusions about Edens in the after life but am firm in believing that if it exits, chaps like John Lennon should feature prominently.

Ironically there some very famous Lennon lyrics in which he asks people to imagine there is no heaven--"above us only sky" -- and no hell. Of course his whole point was not to debunk the existence of such places but to prompt people to use their imaginations. Imagining is of course far more than making up stories or fantasies in your head. It's really about seeing alternatives and recognizing possible consequences. Try imagining how someone is going to feel before making a comment that may be hurtful. Imagine the repercussions of your country's invading another. Imagination is a vastly under utilized human tool. Lennon saw that and he also saw that people hadn't resorted to peace often enough. One wonders if that message will ever get across.

Yeah...Lennon in heaven. I can totally see that.