Mark Chapman And John Lennon, Up Close And Personal

The best part of blogging is reading other blogs, and being inspired by them. Bloggers have more 'AHA!' moments than just about anyone else- and we are grateful for that.

Today's big moment came just a little bit ago, when we read Shrinkwrapped's Reflection on a Sad Anniversary, commemorating the anniversary of John Lennon's tragic death.

As usual, Shrinkwrapped has something relevant- and nuanced to add. He is uniquely qualified to do that when discussing John Lennon and his murderer, Mark David Chapman.

He met with Chapman immediately after the shooting.

As it happened, I was on-call the night he was admitted. (I was in the fourth year of my Psychiatric residency and was taking advantage of the opportunity to earn extra money by providing Psychiatric coverage to Bellevue Psychiatric Hospital.) For an emergency admission after the admitting office was closed, I had to do a brief evaluation, especially on the look out for agitation and dangerousness to self or others; I had to write admission orders and determine if any special precautions had to be adopted.

Now, this by no means Shrinkwrapped is claiming some special insight- indeed, the post presents a clearand cogent and relevant discussion of

...perhaps the story of the disastrous collision between the failed narcissism of Mark David Chapman and the successful narcissism of John Lennon is a parable for our parlous times.

Shrinkwrapped's post is a terrific example of how real insight and understanding of past events can be made relevant and helpful in understanding the world around us, ourselves and our responses.

Shrinkwrapped post elicited more than one 'AHA!' moment.

See for yourselves.