Give Peace a Chance!

Yesterday I went to Strawberry Field iIn New York City for John Lennon's birthday, October 9. I think most people know, but for those who don't, Strawberry Field is a large portion of Central Park, a memorial to John Lennon, who was shot and killed directly across the street in front his apartment building. John's widow, Yoko, still lives in the Dakota. She has asked that John's birthday be memorialized rather than the day of his death, Dec 10, 1980, in order that the positive be focused upon and the cause of peace be forwarded (although people gather on Dec 10, too, we almost can't help it.)

The centerpiece of the memorial is a large stone carving in the shape of a peace sign, with the word "Imagine" underneath, We cover this with candles, flowers, notes, cards, anything that will help express our deepest feelings of loss of John in the flesh, and our intentions, in his name and Yoko's and the world's, to carry on the vision of peace and spreading it across the world. There is a dedicated group of musicians (thank you all) who come at least twice a year and they play and we sing almost every Beatle song (almost all of John's, some George, light on the McCartney) there is. The experience always leaves me emotionally weak, but exhilarated.

But I was thinking...do we always have to "do"" something to spread peace? John said, "give peace a chance." What does that really mean? I think it means that there are times when doing nothing, or not reacting negatively,not running to start a war or just allowing people to do what they do, will allow peace to have a chance. I think most people dowant peace, but will return agression with agression.

A minor example: I like to live in peace with my neighbors. Last summer, some of the kids had a rock group practising very loud, with the windows open. They were not offensive, just kind of loud. One of my neighbors took action: she called the police. No offense to policemen or women, but I believe calling the police is not always the thing to do when suing for peace. I lived right across the street, I didn't do anything because they never practised late at night, and I figured that's part of life, people have to be allowed to do what they do.

The police action only stirred up resentments with no resolution, The next day I was out in my garden and one of the kids came over to me, asked if they were too loud, then said they would close the windows and turn on the air-conditioner instead, resulting in much less noise. Case closed. This is a little example, but my giving peace a chance to occur by not taking a negative action allowed us to let peace work. Imagine this on a larger scale. Sometimes allowing peace to happen is what is called for.

One more thing I have to say.Yesterday I met Sid Bernstein, the promoter who brought the Beatles to America in 1964. He's the one who got them to play at Carnegie Hall during their first American tour. I had read about him in all the Beatle books; it astounded me that I was sitting there talking to him. I asked him if he ever expected anything like this. In his 80's now, he turned to me and said, "I worked with Elvis, Frank Sinatra, and Judy Garland,but as soon as I heard the Beatles I knew they were the most fantastic phenomenon ever. And I was right."