Give Peace a Chance
In his timeless classic "Imagine", John Lennon delivers the central mantra of his life's work: world peace. The music video is emotionally moving, opening with Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono, walking towards a house. The video is punctuated by Ono opening the shutters to let light in. A metaphor, perchance?
My theory is that each window represents a different country, the room as a whole the world. When they first enter the room, there is no light whatsoever. Slowly each window is opened by Ono-dressed in white to represent peaceful harmony-and light filters into the room. This represents each country gladly adopting peace, lighting another part of the world with nonviolence. By the end of the song, when all the windows are opened, the room is thrown into sharp relief. Everything is white, pure, and peaceful, for all of the world powers have accepted peace.
It wouldn't be amiss to guess that Lennon would insert a visual message to reinforce the oral one. There cannot be any doubt that peace is what we need. Lennon asks not for us all to disregard our beliefs, but instead to avoid letting them get in the way of forming bonds. Millions of people throughout history have lost their lives to violence caused by lines dividing the races of humanity. However, we are all human, and must be unified as such. The world would do well to heed Lennon's advice and to give peace a chance.