Chapter 27 Unlocks Painful Chapter For Yoko Ono

Ladies and Gentlemen of the Parole Board: This is my reply to the petition of parole made by Mark David Chapman from here on called "the subject."

It is not easy for me to write this letter to you since it is still painful for me to think of what happened that night and verbalize my thoughts logically. Forgive me if I fall short of your expectation of giving you a satisfactory opinion. But these are my sincere thoughts.

My husband John Lennon was a very special man. A man of humble origin, he brought light and hope to the whole world with his words and music. He tried to be a good power for the world, and he was. He gave encouragement, inspiration and dreams to people regardless of their race, creed and gender.

For me, he was the other half of the sky. We were in love with each other like the most vehement of lovers to the last moment. For our son Sean he was the world. That world shattered when the "subject" pulled the trigger. For Julian, it was losing his father twice. For the people of the world, it was as though the light went out for a moment and darkness prevailed.

With his one act of violence in those few seconds, the "subject" managed to change my whole life, devastate his sons, and bring deep sorrow and fear to the world. It was, indeed, the power of destruction at work.

At first, I had refused to acknowledge John's death. I announced that, "There is no funeral for John." In my mind, I was saying "BECAUSE HE IS NOT DEAD!" "Tell me he is not dead, tell me he is not dead." I was screaming inside myself.