I believe in love. I believe in peace. So naturally, I believe in the message that the Beatles’ music conveys.

In the movie “Superbad”, the main character Seth describes a guy as being “like the first time you hear the Beatles. You get tears in your eyes man.” That’s how I feel now when I listen to the product of the genius of four guys from Liverpool.

I first heard the Beatles when I was about in the fourth grade. My parents had just bought the “1” CD and I decided I would give it a try. This was in the heart of my boy band period, like most young kids at that time, so I’m glad I actually had some good music that I listened to at that period in my life.

Anyways, I put the CD on and skipped to a song called “Something”. George Harrison’s masterful work changed my life that day, and it’s still one of my favorite Beatles songs to this day.

After that day, I listened to “1” for a week or so and then stopped listening to the Beatles for about six months altogether. I don’t know what happened, I probably just got bored with them. You know how kids at that age are.

About six months later, my friends and I decided that we would dress up as the Beatles and “perform” one of their songs for our school’s talent show. We chose “I Want to Hold Your Hand” because people would know that the best, and performed it pretty well, I guess.

From that day forward, I was entrenched in “Beatlemania”, wanting to know anything and everything I could about John, Paul, George and Ringo and the music they made.

Not until later did I realize the wonderful message that the music conveyed though. Most of the music taught loving everyone, peace, and freedom. That’s something I really admire. I know people pray or ask for world peace all the time, and I know that it would be close to impossible for it to happen, but I’m glad that the most successful band of all time decided to make these morals their mantra.

One of the things I feel the guiltiest about in my life is that I didn’t feel sad when George Harrison died in 2001. I didn’t know why my mom was crying that day, but now I know. A messenger, a preacher and a poet, and one of the best at that, had just left us.
The Beatles were a band for seven wonderful years, from 1963-1970, and for those years they made it their mission to try and spread peace, love, joy and music to the world. Going by album sales and critical acclaim, I’d say they did a pretty good job.

"This will certify that the above Work is completely original".

Nick Ratliff