On December 8Th 1980 I was in Winnipeg with my family, there was a football game on TV, I was sitting in a room with both my parents. The game was interrupted .. a Breaking News Story in the days before 24 hour news networks . ..this was a very rare event normally reserved for only the most serious bad news ..and we braced ourselves. Howard Cosell announced it.
John Lennon has been assassinated, shot down outside his home. They didn't use the term murder, the news was given the gravity of the death of a president. For many people John Lennon was very much a cultural leader and political leader although he had no office and had to fight to stay in the United States. I was very young but I will never forget the announcement, the gravity in the delivery of the news and the loss. That was my first Sept 11th. The world lost someone who was reasonable light in a dark and insane landscape.
We need his voice today as much as we needed it then. The fact that his voice was taken violently underscores our need for peace. You might not remember or realize this but the image you see above was part of a nation-wide advertisement campaign for peace that John Lennon and Yoko Ono not only organized but that they also paid for.
Please go to
http://www.imaginepeace.com and support Yoko and the memory of John Lennon.
Sincerely,
Michael Kerr
Annoying Peace Activist
http://www.namesforpeace.com
