My Dear Friends,
70 years ago today, October 9th 1940, John Lennon was born in Liverpool, England. He had a very painful childhood in which he hardly saw his mother or his father. But, later, he managed to turn his pain around to give the world many beautiful songs and important messages which changed our heads and the way of our lives. And I now see you are all celebrating his birthday today, to thank him for giving us so much in his short and intense life on this planet. I know John was not expecting so much love to still come from you. But he would have been very happy to know it. Thank you, thank you, thank you. May all of us heal ourselves and learn to love each other in peace.
I love you!
Yoko Ono Lennon
9th October 2010
Reykjavik, Iceland
Yoko was in Iceland today to light the Imagine Peace Tower, a tall "tower of light", projected from a white stone monument that has the words "Imagine Peace" carved into it in 24 languages.
The Tower consists of 15 searchlights with prisms that act as mirrors, reflecting the column of light vertically into the sky from a 10-metre wide wishing well. The power for the lights is provided by Iceland's unique geo-thermal energy grid. It uses approximately 75 kW of power.
Buried underneath the light tower are upward of 500,000 written wishes that Yoko gathered over the years in another project, called "Wish Trees". Ono plans to have the tower lit every year from October 9, Lennon's birthday, through December 8, the date of his passing.
Yoko was on hand to light the Peace Tower with son Sean Lennon and Ringo Starr. Yoko posted her announcement to Twitter:
Love is our energy. Wisdom our power. Its time to shed light to all corners of the world. Enjoy the trip we make together. I love you! yoko
Imagine Peace Tower
Ceremonial lighting (time-elapsed from Earthcam images)
Reykjavik, Iceland - October 9, 2010
To mark John Lennon’s 70th birthday, Yoko has also posted a message to the Imagine Peace Tower website honoring her late husband.
Yoko Ono – Happy Birthday John Lennon
John’s 70th birthday – October 9, 2010
