Friends-
I can tell you exactly what I was doing 27 years ago tonight.
A close friend, living not far from The Dakota Building called me up to tell me that John Lennon had been murdered. I got the news from him about fifteen minutes before it hit the airwaves. For fifteen minutes, I hoped that my friend was wrong. He was right.
I didn't agree with everything John Lennon said and did; but I passionately believed in his right to say it. He challenged us to reshape our world and our community, to rethink our relationships; I listen to his music now, and I can't shake the sense that he was entering a new, incredibly thoughtful and productive place on his journey.
One can only imagine.
Over the past several days, an e-mail from Yoko Ono has been making the rounds. I offer it here as a posting. We are a nation at war with other nations, at war with itself; we are a nation that once was a beacon in a dark world, of freedom, of rights; and now we torture mentally ill "terrorists" to produce intelligence that is utterly useless. Suddenly, after all these years, we quibble over the definition of torture.
Lennon knew we could be so much better than that; he challenged us to be. And we can; we must.
On December 8th, 11.15pm (your local time) remember John by taking a moment of quiet reflection. If you would like to play or sing the song "Imagine" and imagine a world of peace, just know that we are all together at that moment in every time zone, as IMAGINE PEACE makes its way around the world - every hour for 24 hours. Send in stories & photos of what you did on December 8th to stories@imaginepeace.com for us, the family of Peace and Love, to tell us and tell us of your experiences. That would be lovely!
With deepest love
Yoko Ono Lennon
Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today
Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace
You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world
You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one
John Lennon December 9, 1940 - December 8, 1980
Rest in Peace John.
www.IMAGINEPEACE.com
Image courtesy of University of California, Irvine, Film and Video Center
1 comment:
If we stop imagining what could be--and simply accept what 'is' as all there can be--that's when we die a little.
Not that we should be ungrateful for everything we are blessed with in our lives--but we must keep our minds open to possibilities--we must entertain new ways of thinking and being--we must be open to change for the better.
And we also must understand that imagining--while essential--is only the beginning.
We must continuously strive, both individually and collectively, to make our world the better place we imagine it can be--a more just and humane place. We always need to strive for a more peaceful world that cooperates in saving our beautiful planet for future generations--including the animal and plant life with which we are blessed to share it.
We must have hope, imagination and the courage to seek to transform reality for all our sakes.
Thank you for reminding us on the anniversary of John Lennon's death of how important it is to keep imagining.
LB
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