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Peace of Yesterday,
Peace for Tomorrow |
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"They say if all the people in
China were to jump up and down at the same time,
the axis of the globe would shift." - Yoko Ono
In celebration of John Lennon’s
would be 67th birthday, the opening
ceremony of the Imagine Peace Tower lit up the
sky of the small yet iridescent land of Iceland.
Yoko Ono, wife of John Lennon of the Beatles,
personally led the opening ceremony on Tuesday,
October 9th, 2007. Dedicated to her late
husband, Participants heard Ono’s humble words
of gratitude and love for Lennon and then,
alongside friends and loved ones, witnessed the
tower’s first lighting.
The tower was built from a small and innocent
idea that Ono had during her and Lennon’s first
meetings over 40 years ago. It was perhaps one
of the connections that brought the two
together. Now, 40 years later, Ono’s original
idea of a light house has been made possible in
collaboration with the city of Reykjavik,
Iceland and Reykjavik Energy. The tower light is
emitted by prisms which create a unique set of
colors depending on the time of day and the
atmospheric conditions.
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The tower itself is engraved in 24 languages
that say “IMAGINE PEACE”; while on the interior, Lennon’s
famous lyrics to “Imagine” are also engraved. The tower is a
standing dedication to John Lennon, to be lit every year on
the 9th of October till December 8th,
the day he passed away, to remember the light he brought to
us. While its beauty can only be seen within Iceland, the
simplicity of its idea will touch people all around.
Yoko Ono’s own experience with war gave her an understanding
of imagination. Born in a well-to-do family in Japan, Ono
and her family lost everything during World War II. When
their family had to live on the streets and beg for food,
she and her brother fetched through their imaginations for
food and fun, giving them nourishment of some sort.
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During the opening
ceremony Ono introduced her piece of art with a little
proverb, "They say if all the people in China were to jump
up and down at the same time, the axis of the globe would
shift". There were 900,000 wishes sent for the opening and
although they might not be enough to change the world, she
wanted everyone to think how spreading the word could change
even one person’s imagination, and with each change, with
each collaboration, then maybe someday, someday soon, the
axis of this earth might just shift and there really will be
peace. |
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As a self proclaimed “con artist” of the avant garde,
musician, film-maker and humanitarian, Yoko Ono continues to travel
spreading words of peace all over the globe. Aside from her recent
visit to Iceland, along with the original Plastic Ono Band, they
reunited on stage in Tokyo on December 8, 2007 in a concert bringing
Japan’s legendary Kiyoshiro Imawano and today’s big rock ‘n’ roll
stars. In an event that brought together people for a super cool
concert with a unique meaning, Ono and her supporters held up signs
that read “War is Over if you want it”, launching yet again the
powerful words that fueled her and Lennon’s peace campaign during
the anti-Vietnam War movement. |
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The Plastic Ono Band was an integration between John Lennon of the
Beatles and the independent artist Yoko Ono’s passionate ideas about
the power of imagination that would allow for world peace. Both
closely-watched activists believed that it was the people who have
the power to do whatever they want, and it is the people who can
control the government, not the other way around. With those eight
words passed on from hand to hand, by the word of mouth, and on
giant billboards appeared these eight words selling one simple idea
across the United States. It was the people’s activism that resulted
in international and domestic changes from political to economic. A
success story - power stemming from the people became the most
powerful force pushing to end war.
On Christmas and New Years we can still hear those
words being said. In Lennon and Ono’s Plastic Ono Band album is
“Happy Xmas”, sung by John Lennon, Yoko Ono and the children of the
Harlem Community Choir. The song speaks of the holiday as a time to
think about the past and what could be done better with the world so
sad. For as death, starvation, war, and fear continues, let’s
imagine tomorrow to have one less wrong.
During the month that ends 2007, December was
reported to have the lowest civilian and military death rate in Iraq
by CNN. As the war continues there is a general consensus from the
people in America to end this war as soon as possible. Yet many
don't realize that the year 2007 had the highest death rate since
2003, the year we went into Iraq. As we start the New Year with love
and cheers, can we forget that soldiers, relatives and even a child
somewhere out there can't enjoy happiness?
Let us imagine peace for tomorrow.
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