"(George Harrison) was a giant, a great, great soul, with all the humanity, all the wit and humor, all the wisdom, the spirituality, the common sense of a man and compassion for people. He inspired love and had the strength of a hundred men. He was like the sun, the flowers, and the moon, and we will miss him enormously. The world is a profoundly emptier place without him." ~ Bob Dylan
Shortly after George Harrison.'s death in 2001, I was sipping coffee at Barnes and Noble and reading a tribute to him in Rolling Stone magazine. I started to cry.
The magazine featured the above quote by Dylan and others, including Tom Petty who said of Harrison: "I loved him so much, and if he had never played a note, I would have been so blessed to have him in my life... He was just pure love."
And a bit of pure poignancy, too.
In 1988, when the Beatles were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Paul McCartney refused to attend and released this statement: "I was keen to go and pick up my award, but after 20 years, the Beatles still have some business differences, which I had hoped would have been settled by now. Unfortunately, they haven't so I would feel like a hypocrite waving and smiling with them at a fake reunion."
So everyone was there on the stage except Sir Paul-- Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono, Sean and Julian Lennon, and Harrison, who said with remarkable insight, "I don't have much to say, because I'm the quiet Beatle. It's unfortunate that Paul's not here, because he was the one who had the speech in his pocket. Anyways, we all know why John can't be here, and I'm sure he would be."
It got me to thinking deeply about the fragility of life. And More: In difficult situations, show up...and spread humor and love.
