By Judith Kristen, AAP Columnist

For a generation of kids back in the 1960s a band from Liverpool came into our hearts and never left. Here we are 52 years later and our grandchildren are Beatles fans. February 7, 1964 is a date we all remember, the day those four mop tops walked off a Pan Am plane at Kennedy Airport and joyous American Beatlemania began.

Another date, a very sad date, came 16 years later: December 8, 1980, when John Lennon was gunned down outside his apartment house in New York City. I was 32 years old that day, but I felt like 132.

This December 8, I’ve decided to do more than call friends, play John’s music, and remember his life. I’m going to remember how he told us to “Imagine” and “Give Peace a Chance.”

In his honor, I want to do something positive, something uplifting, helpful, caring. I want the “Tis the Season” to work some wonderful happenings along with a little effort on my part.

So I decided that I would make some delicious sandwiches and homemade cookies, buy several dozens of candy canes and deliver them to the homeless over in Philadelphia and in Camden. To give from the heart and to remind people of what joins us rather than what divides us.

For a time in my own life, I spent 16 days homeless; I recall many a kindness from that sad and scary time. For all of my misfortune, I was still a lucky kid. God bless the good souls who helped me.

So, in a perfect world, a million Beatle Fans would read this, and just get out there sometime between now and the end of the holiday season and do something positive in John Lennon’s memory: something loving, kind, and compassionate… like John was.

Imagine how many people we could help that day. Imagine that.