Yoko's Wish Trees, Two Years Later

A couple of years ago, Yoko Ono did one of her art installations in downtown Pasadena. Folks could write wishes on little pieces of paper and tie them to the branches of potted crepe myrtle trees in the plaza of One Colorado. As with most of Yoko's "pieces," you've got to think about this one for a while before it sounds more like genius than harebrained. Now stay with it. Ain't no secret that Yoko's wish is for world peace. Always has been. But she's not hovering around telling other people what to wish for. You can, with Wish Trees or without, wish for anything you want. But wishin' (or prayin' or hoping or whatever you want to call it) ain't doin.'

So since 1996 Yoko has been providing wish tree installations in cities all over the world, and people can hang their wishes on a tree just like they do in Japanese temples. After the installations are over, the wishes are packed up and sent to the Imagine Peace Tower in Iceland. But what happens to the trees?

Well, I'm happy as can be to tell you that the trees are doing very well indeed at the Arlington Garden, between Fair Oaks and Orange Grove in Pasadena. They've been relieved of wish tree duty and can just get on with growing and oxygenating the air and blooming and whatever tree concerns they might have.

If you missed out on contributing your wish to this ongoing art project, there is a P.O. Box set up in Iceland (Imagine Peace Tower, P.O. Box 1009, 121 Reykjavik, Iceland) to handle independent tags. Even easier, send an e-mail to: [email protected]

But if you want to do it right, you've got to express that wish, focus on what you really want, and then take some action on it, whatever that wish may be. And good luck to ya.

Comments

[Yoko Ono]

[this is good]

Thank you, Raven, for your wise statement. Yes. It's time for action!

By the way, if there were wishes for anything else, they will be turned into wishes

for World Peace in