Imagine all the people, living life in peace

North End

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 03/01/2024 (980 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

I remember when I got John Lennon’s Shaved Fish compilation album in 1975. The first song, Give Peace a Chance, delivered a powerful message. Also on the record were Power to the People and Imagine, two other inspirational songs for a highly impressionable 11-year-old boy like me.

Like many of songwriters of the late ’60s and early ’70s, Lennon wrote songs with a message. He had a lot to say about war and injustice. In December 1969, John and Yoko flew to Toronto for the next phase of their peace campaign (their first being their Bed-in for Peace in Montreal). They erected large billboards in 12 major cities around the world including New York, Los Angeles, Toronto, Rome, Athens, Amsterdam, Berlin, Paris, London, Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Helsinki. The billboards contained the message “WAR IS OVER!”, in huge letters, with “IF YOU WANT IT” in smaller letters below and “Happy Christmas from John and Yoko” at the bottom. In Toronto, they also put up 30 roadside billboards and thousands of posters and handbills.

According to the Global Conflict Tracker Website, there are 13 wars and countless other conflicts currently happening worldwide. The two major wars are in Ukraine and, of course, the Israel- Hamas war, largely concentrated in Gaza.

We are pretty lucky here in Canada. I couldn’t imagine what it’s like to live in war-torn countries where air raid sirens alert the residents to take shelter before the bombs start dropping; or being displaced, as has happened to so many Ukrainians and people living in the Gaza Strip.

While some wars are territorial disputes, throughout history many others have been holy wars, which makes absolutely no sense to me. Whatever happened to the ‘Golden Rule’ of treating others as we’d like to be treated? Sounds easy enough, but statistics show that people who grow up in abusive homes sometimes grow up thinking that’s normal behaviour and the cycle carries on through the generations. So, if you grow up in war zones does that become normal as well? In a civilized world, I would hope not.

Bhaktivinode Thakur was a Hindu guru and philosopher. Someone once asked him what he thought of the many different religions in India alone. He replied that he thought it was quite nice that God could be worshipped in so many ways. If people believe in God (or not), that’s their choice and if they have a different name for God, so be it, they still believe in God and should be respected.

I believe in a collective consciousness and if enough people in the world wished for peace on earth and followed the Golden Rule, the world could and would be a better place.

To quote John Lennon: “Imagine all the people, living life in peace.”

It’s easier said than done but: “You may say I’m a dreamer… but I’m not the only one… I hope some day you’ll join us… and the world will live as one.”

Wishing you all peace, happiness (and compassion for victims of war and injustices) in the new year. Peace!