‘The number 21 means three times seven which is the number of perfection. This means that UTS has reached adulthood. Now we should act as real adults.” So spoke President Shimmyo on September 20 on the occasion of the 21st anniversary of the founding of UTS. He invoked the example of the Founder in interpreting the meaning of this milestone. “Our Father has always prayed, ‘Don’t worry about me, I will handle all of the problems and difficulties - I will do the work on your behalf.’ This is the attitude of our Founder so, at adulthood, this should be our attitude also.” The President recalled how the Founder wanted UTS to be a place where young men and women “became one with True Parents’ vision. It was established,” he said, “in the middle of Father’s 40-year wilderness course. We have not been able to fulfill Father’s expectation so far but now, at adulthood, why don’t we take responsibility? The main purpose in coming here should be so that we can become very responsible people as true, genuine adults. Let’s tell Heavenly Father and True Parents that we are ready to shoulder all problems.” Dr. Shimmyo related his own learning experience in relating to Reverend Moon. “Last year, I strongly requested more financial support from Father but later, I felt so bad that I said, ‘Father, just forget about it!’ I went to Japan to try to raise money myself and then, when I came back and reported to Father, he was ready to help! So, now that UTS has reached adulthood, let’s tell True Parents that we will be fine and that we can handle all things by ourselves.”

Dr. Mickler Looks Back

At the celebration luncheon, Dr. Michael Mickler looked back to the days when he and Drs. Shimmyo and Seidel were members of the pioneering first class. The 50 people who formed that class shared the facilities with the 120-day workshop and at times there were as many as 800 participants in the various Barrytown workshops. Dr. Mickler recalled the Spring of 1977 as a particularly exciting time. “We had just had a breakthrough in connecting to the Christian tradition in February 1977 with the theologians conferences and Father was excited about this bridge to Christianity. Also that Spring, three students took a tennis net down to the lagoon to catch carp. Father got very excited and bought every fishing net for miles around. He set them out on the grass, sat down and began sewing them together. He continued throughout that day and through the night until he finished at 6.30 a.m. the next day. To my deep regret, I went to bed - we just didn’t know. This net was a symbol - we had started the conferences and theologians were connecting as never before.” “The following Sunday, Father came back and we all lined up on the railroad track next to the lagoon. There were 60 of us and we set off across the lagoon with the net. It was like death! The water was icy cold and it came up to our chests. Gerhardt, a big German brother, was pulling people out of the water into a boat when they started to really suffer. Finally, the net was set, held up by poles imbedded in the mud. We climbed out and staggered to some bonfires that had been lit along the bank. At low tide, we found that there were no carp! There was one section of the net which was suspended above the mud and all the fish had gone through!” Later, the students got it right and hundreds of carp were transferred to the Seminary pond. The day of celebration continued with the now-traditional inter-team contest in soccer and tug-o-war. Students, staff and faculty were all mixed together in four very competitive teams whose members were all equally and totally exhausted by the end of a memorable day. G.D.