The George Harrison Stabbing
As many of Beatles fans know, our beloved George Harrison was stabbed on December 30th, 1999. The incident took place at George's home just west of London, in Henley-on-Thames. It was very surprising to have occurred there since many have called this house of George's "Fort Knox" because of the tight security. Nevertheless, a 33 year old Liverpudlian (which is the same place all of the Beatles are from, as we all know), Michael Abram, managed to get onto the Harrison estate, and find George and Olivia's (his wife) bedroom. Apparently a struggle began, and it continued through three rooms as George, Olivia, and Abrams left a blood trail through all three of these rooms. Abrams had carried with him a seven inch long knife which he stabbed George with once in the chest, missing George's heart by one-inch. Eventually, Olivia Harrison caught Abram by surprised and hit him over the head with a lamp, and knocked him unconscious, where George and her kept him until police came.
The attack was surprising not just because of George's tight security, but of all of the remaining Beatles, George is the most reclusive, and this gives him more reason to be. Paul and Ringo are out in the spotlight much more, so it does not make sense to attack George. However, it was not out of the ordinary to have fans break into George's homes. This one has been broken into before and just a couple of weeks before this incident a woman broke into George's home in the US. Thankfully, George was not there, yet this shows how unsafe the Beatles are, despite the fact that they reached their popularity peak three decades ago, the mania ceases to die.
George has since been released from the hospital and is expected to make a full recovery. Besides the stab wound, he also has many superficial cuts and bruises on his hands, and all over his body due to the fighting, and there was some initial concern from George whether his guitar playing would be affected. Apparently it should not be, thank goodness. His wife suffered superficial bruises as well, as did Abrams.
The incident is sad, without a doubt, but it also infuriates me. This man attacked George for music he created over 30 years ago. George is now an older man of 56 and to attack him like that was just horrific, he obviously is not in the condition to fend off such attacks. Besides this, all of what happened to George brings back what happened to John 19 years ago. Both incidents do not make any sense, and they wouldn't to me, being that I am sane, unlike Abrams or Chapman. To kill a person for creating music is ridiculous, especially music the Beatles created which touched and affected so many people.
Another tragedy, albeit on a much lesser level, is the amount of misreporting about George and the Beatles. All the news stations anchors look like fools talking to people who claim to be experts in some way, but are really a bunch of camera hungry idiots. Nearly every bit of information was wrong, or was such a stupid question that it didn't warrant being televised.
We should all be thankful that George is ok, and should pray for him to get well soon. We should also think of how dangerous it is to be famous and appreciate the fact that three of the four Beatles are remaining, and appreciate them while they are still here. I also am hoping that this incident will not scare away Paul, George and Ringo from the public, as we all like to see the Beatles more. More important is that it does not attract copy-cat attempts, which is always a fear when an event is publicized. All we can really do is pray, look out for one another, and send George and all of the Beatles our warmest wishes and support.
NEWS RELEASES
Michael Abram, 33 yr old who stabbed George Harrison in his hom on 12/30/99.