Dear John

I wish all the world can agree that war is indeed over, John--that they gave peace and freedom a chance, but war is spreading like wildfire out there.

John Lennon looked rather expectantly over the ever busy midtown Manhattan. On this side of the world, people are free as a bird to do whatever they please: shop, travel, look for hotel deals, eat three straight meals. Somewhere in an oppressed continent, however, Boston hotel deals are the last thing on their minds, because freedom is what they wish to find.

Decades after your untimely demise, John, we still sing your song with the same intensity of wishing upon a star for something profound. Though we are far away from all the chaos going on, we cannot deny the ripple effect this has upon us all. After all, we live in the same planet.

When they said “love is perennial as the grass,” they must have also meant the same for war, albeit the latter is the true weed we’d rather not have return. Yet it’s there...again and again and again. Only the method and motivation vary. The innocent victims? Always many.

War can be over, if they want it. If they let it.