Yesterday was John Lennon's 70th birthday, but with a heap of regret, I had no idea whatsoever. Poor me.
I'm a fan of John. A huge fan, in fact. He not only influenced the music industry, but the present world as we know it. If you recall my blog about his song Imagine, you'd realize how great an impact his work has on me even if I was born long after his untimely demise. Had he survived that gunshot (or had that not happened at all), he would be 70 years and a day old today.
I saw Yoko's world invitation on YouTube just this morning. She shouted out for people all over the world to create a video in honor of John Lennon and post it on YouTube. Unfortunately, though, even if I have the technology to do that, I'm as pedantic as a goldsmith for HM Queen Elizabeth II, and it would probably take me two days minimum to come up with a piece I'd be happy with. So, I decided to put my tribute into writing. I'm a lot better at this than I am at tinkering with video editing software.
So, anyway, I have a friend from Silliman University named April, and she loves John Lennon. Her whole life as an artist revolves around John's principles of freedom of expression through art. Before getting to know her, I would never have delved into his life the way I did and I would never have considered the idea of adopting the causes that John fought for. For that, I thank her.
John has since then been a part of my all my days' struggles and triumphs. John's life inspired me to sing for peace and wage peaceful wars against things that harm our only Earth. John was never perfect. So what? I'm not. April isn't. My family isn't. Nobody on Earth is. But, on that note, John's life has given me inspiration to see imprefections as cause for art and rejoice. With life's blemishes, one knows he/she has the power to be better.
The song Imagine talks about a utopia. It enables its listeners to visualize a fantasy of a pefrect world order. There's nothing more impossible than that, of course. But what reason do we have not to smile that each day we have imperfection to lead us to resiliency and creativity? Because the world isn't perfect, we come up with ways to find peace and recognize it when we achieve it in our own little ways.
Today is October 10th, 2010. It's three 1s and three zeros. What then? Is it cause for celebration? Yes, it is! No, not because John was born yesterday. Not because of the lucky numbers. It's cause for celebration because we are alive today. It is cause for celebration because Gaia allows us to thrive in her. It is cause for celebration for countless things. You might be led to think that it is a day just like any other. But is any day really like any other?
Think.
It's been a very peaceful day for me. I received a stressful message earlier this morning but I brushed it away to be addressed tomorrow. I wanted to savor the day's bright nature, so I did. I've had better days, but today was beautiful.
Imagine.
