Invoking Lennon, Ono asks suffering souls to forgive

From Reuters via the Houston Chronicle:

Noting that the Dec. 8 anniversary of her husband's murder at the hands of an assassin was approaching, Ono thanked the people from whom she hears each year, but said she wanted to send a message this year as well.

Directing her words to "people who have lost loved ones without cause," to "the soldiers of all countries and of all centuries," to civilians who were injured or killed and to "people who have been abused or tortured," Ono wrote "Know that your loss is our loss ... Know that the burden is ours," and asked "Forgive us."

And

Ono concluded by asking that Dec. 8 become "the day to ask for forgiveness from those who suffered the insufferable," and for "healing ourselves" and thus the world.

Click here for the rest.

Obviously, given that she has no real oppressive power, and that she has worked against oppression for decades as both an artist and an activist, no one along the lines she describes really needs to forgive Yoko Ono. Still, this is a good idea, very much in keeping with the kind of stuff she used to do with John back in the day, very much in keeping with the hopeful utopianism described in his song "Imagine" and others. Definitely a good way to memorialize the anniversary of his death. It's also not a bad idea to tell the people of the world who have been victimized in the name of the United States that most Americans really don't have much control over the actions of their government, but that we're sorry that what little control we have hasn't actually amounted to much. Sort of taking collective responsibililty for allowing the hawks and corporate exploiters to get away with it all.

In the end, such a proclamation won't really change things on a grand scale, but it will make people here think about the issues involved. And that's really about as much as an artist and activist can do. I like it.


Yoko at the bed-in for peace, 1969

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$