LiViNg PeAcE

Another person that I highly admire is John Lennon. As you probably know, he was also involved in peace movements. Aside from what he did in the peace movement, I admire him because, like Gandhi, he proved one person can make a huge impact in the world. 

He was born as John Winston Lennon, but later changed his name to John Ono Lennon. As an English rock musician, he was one of the founders and members of The Beatles. Not only was he a songwriter and a singer, but also a peace activist. This means that he wanted to achieve peace (during the Vietnam war) by doing different non-violent activities. To prove his beliefs, he participated in protests, boycotted and even created songs suggesting peace. He also participated in television shows, interviews, books, and other ways in which he tried to tell everyone to “Give Peace a Chance”. Unfortunately, during his years as a peace activist, he created enmities. When coming back after his four year retirement, Lennon was killed in New York City. Later, he was voted eighth in the list of the Greatest Britons. He ranked 36th on the Rolling Stones magazine`s list of ‘The Immortals: The Fifty Greatest Artists of All Time’ while The Beatles ranked number one.

One of his peace songs is called “Imagine”. If you would like to watch the video, click on the link below:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEOkxRLzBf0

Another very famous one is “Give Peace a Chance”. If you would like to hear it, please click the link below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-NRriHlLUk&feature=related

I wanted to start off with Gandhi because he is a person that has caused a great impact in my life. I love everything he did and highly admire him as a person.He was called Mahatma Gandhi. Mahatma meaning “great soul.” There are many other reasons why I admire him, but the main one is because of all the things he accomplished without a single act of violence. He started the Indian movement, one by which he tried to give equal rights to whites and Indians. Many times he was put to jail. This, of course, was only because he opposed to do things whites demanded them to do, because once again he believed in nonviolent co-existence. When in jail, he fed his followers -that had also been put to jail with him- for free. He also lead many strikes and hunger strikes. Beacuse of this, he soon became a national hero. In 1931, in a conference in London, he declared India as independent. Unfortunately, not everyone thought the way the way he did. Because of this, he had some enemies.He was assasinated by Nathuram Godse in 1948.

Some people think one person cannot make a difference. I believe one person make all the difference. This is another reason why I admire Mahatma Gandhi. It all started because he believed he could make a difference; and even though in the beginning he did not have any followers, he slowly started influencing a numerous amount of people. In the end, this one person accomplished his goal. Later on, he also inspired many other important people like Martin Luther King Jr. 

“I object to nonviolence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent.”         -Mahatma Gandhi  

“An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.” -Mahatma Gandhi 

“You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”  -Mahatma Gandhi 

“Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.”          -Mahatma Gandhi 

More quotes on Gandhi