John Lennon: Why the World Still Misses Him

Remembering John Lennon on what would have been his 86th birthday

On October 9, 1940, John Winston Lennon was born in Liverpool, England. Eighty-six years later, his voice still seems remarkably present.

Perhaps that is because so much of what John Lennon talked, wrote and sang about remains unfinished business.

Peace. Love. War. Fear. Loneliness. Hope. Human connection.

And the possibility that, despite everything dividing us, we might still find something that brings us together.

John Lennon has now been gone for nearly 46 years. Yet there are moments when it feels as though the world misses him more than ever.

A Voice That Refused to Be Quiet

Of course, John Lennon will forever be remembered as one of the four Beatles.

Alongside Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, he helped create a body of music that changed popular culture. What began with four young men from Liverpool became something much larger: a musical and cultural phenomenon that crossed borders, generations and languages.

But John was never particularly interested in simply being a pop star.

He questioned things.

He provoked people.

He could be funny, sarcastic, vulnerable, contradictory and painfully honest—sometimes all at once. As both a Beatle and a solo artist, Lennon increasingly used his music to explore subjects far beyond romance and entertainment.

He wanted people to think.

And sometimes he wanted to make them uncomfortable enough to think differently.

Imagine

Few songs demonstrate that better than “Imagine.”

Its famous opening invitation asks us to picture a world stripped of many of the things that separate human beings.

It sounds simple.

It isn’t.

More than half a century after Lennon recorded the song, humanity remains divided by borders, wars, ideology, religion, wealth, race, politics and competing versions of the truth.

We are also living in an age John could scarcely have imagined: billions of people connected instantly through technology, yet often feeling more isolated from one another.

We can communicate across the planet in seconds.

But communication isn’t necessarily understanding.

That is one reason John’s message continues to resonate.

He wasn’t promising that peace would be easy. He was asking us to imagine that it was possible.

That distinction matters.

The Imperfect Messenger

Remembering John Lennon shouldn’t require turning him into a saint.

He wasn’t one.

John himself spoke publicly about his failures and contradictions. His life contained anger, mistakes, damaged relationships and periods he later viewed with regret.

Perhaps that is partly why his message remains compelling.

The man singing about peace was someone who had wrestled with anger.

The man singing about love knew something about loneliness.

The man asking the world to imagine something better was himself trying to become something better.

His humanity was complicated.

So is ours.

And maybe messages of peace are more meaningful when they come not from perfect people, but from people who understand how difficult peace can actually be.

What Would John Say Today?

It is tempting to wonder what an 86-year-old John Lennon would make of the world in 2026.

What would he think about social media?

Artificial intelligence?

Our phones?

Our wars?

Our politics?

Our obsession with celebrity?

Our ability to speak to almost anyone on Earth while increasingly retreating into communities of people who already agree with us?

Nobody can know.

And we shouldn’t pretend that we do.

But based on the artist he was, it seems reasonable to believe that John would still be asking questions.

Probably uncomfortable ones.

He might make us laugh.

He might make us angry.

He might even contradict something he had said the week before.

But he probably wouldn’t be quiet.

And that may be one of the things we miss most.

Give Peace a Chance

There is something almost radical today about those four words:

Give peace a chance.

Not guarantee peace.

Not demand that everyone agree.

Just give it a chance.

Before the shouting.

Before the hatred.

Before deciding that another human being is our enemy simply because he or she belongs to another country, religion, generation, political movement or way of life.

Give peace a chance.

John Lennon helped turn that simple sentiment into an anthem heard around the world.

Today, it deserves another hearing.

The Music Remains

John Lennon died on December 8, 1980. He was only 40 years old.

That fact remains difficult to comprehend.

There should have been more birthdays.

More songs.

More arguments.

More interviews.

More experiments.

More mistakes.

More reunions with old friends.

More opportunities to change his mind.

More life.

Instead, we have the extraordinary music he left behind—from the explosive energy of the early Beatles through their astonishing creative evolution and into the deeply personal work of his solo years.

And every October 9, the world gets another opportunity to remember not simply the icon, but the human being behind those round glasses.

A boy from Liverpool who became one of the most recognizable people on Earth.

A songwriter who helped change music forever.

An imperfect man who spent part of his life asking an imperfect world to consider a very simple idea:

Maybe we could do better.

In 2026, that’s an idea worth remembering.

Happy Birthday, John.

You are missed.

— McCartney Times