With Love from Cindy to Yoko

MESSAGE FROM CINDY SHEEHAN
October 9th 2007

Dear Yoko,

I want to thank you for the honor of the invitation to be there with you today in Iceland as you unveil the Peace Tower dedicated to your late husband, John Ono Lennon, and I want to send my deepest regrets that it didn't work out for me to be there.

Having said that, I have a few reflections on what you and John have meant to me over the years.

I began my career as a Beatle's fan when I was six years old in Southern California and, I believe, matured with them as their music evolved and matured. I was a little young to be a "hippy" but I always resonated with the music and the drama that seemed to follow you and John wherever you went. I beleive you are like "family" to so many people.

When my son Casey was 18 months old and I was 7 months pregnant with his sister, Carly, John was assassinated on that horrible December night. We were devastated, but I didn't really know your true pain until Casey was killed 24 years later in Iraq on April 04, 2004---of course April 04 is the same day that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr was assassinated on the balcony in Memphis, Tennessee in 1968.

Since Casey was killed, I have also become a true campaigner for peace and justice like you and John: Not just an "absence of war," but searching for how humans can use our resources and wisdom for non-violent resolutions to conflict. In my quest for peace, I have used your example and the wisdom and love of John's life as a role model for my own activism. The song, Imagine, has become like an anthem, impetus, and marker for change to me. (Not to mention: Power to the People!)

I cherish what you have done using your pain to make our world a better place and hope to have even a little bit of your influence and success in my own life, also.

May the blessings of the force of Universal Peace and love always be with you!

With love,

Cindy Sheehan
mother of Casey Sheehan, KIA in Iraq 04/04/04
and Carly, Andrew and Jane who also send their love and best wishes!

PS: As soon as I can, I will make a pilgrimage to the Peace Tower to rededicate my life to the most important work: Peace.

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