In a small art museum at a university near my house, I came across a piece of “Grapefruit” – not the fruit, but an art exhibit from the ’60s comprised mostly of word paintings. You stand at the wall, read the words, and have your experience. It’s pretty amazing.
At that point I had been thinking about starting HumanKind Media for about three months, dreaming daily of healing the world by tipping the balance in favor of the idea of it, by getting enough humans to imagine, to believe that they could.
So when at the exit I noticed a bowl of buttons that said “Imagine peace,” I took one. Also near the exit was an article about how this exhibit, Yoko Ono’s “Grapefruit,” first shown in New York, was said by John Lennon to be the inspiration for the immortal “Imagine.”
Recently, I found that button again. It made me think immediately about how pat the phrase has become, and how powerful it could be again. Because today people are still imagining peace. Jeffrey Sachs imagines the end to extreme poverty is possible. Zainab Salbi imagines the end of suffering for women in war zones is possible. Marshall Rosenberg imagines the end of violence is possible – even in the Middle East.
It is all possible, if we want it – if we put some power behind our wish and really live with the belief that the possibility of global peace and connection is worth our time and attention.
So, even if you’re still holding a grudge against Yoko (you know who you are), let go of that for a second and check out her intro to the Peace Event for John Lennon. The cool thing about this is that even though it “happened” in 2004, you can experience it as an “event” right now. None of the links work on that marvelous page, but here’s something more recent.
Peace, everyone, everywhere.
Stumble It!
Comments