The Words of the Burton Family
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The Words of the Burton Family |
Food for the mind and the body was the focus of a community outreach event organized by the Japanese Unification community at Maryland Family Church’s Greenbelt office on Saturday, June 27, 2009. Mrs. Hideki Aoyama demonstrated the fine art of sushi making to 13 Japanese sisters and three guests. After lunch, Pastor Angelika Selle gave a motivational message titled “Finding Common Ground Among All Cultures.”
“What does it take to create common ground, and what can be that common ground?” Reverend Selle asked.
While guests munched on sushi and Japanese sweet-bean snacks, Reverend Selle gave the answer. “When we talk about finding common ground among all cultures and all people, we need to look a little deeper than a religion or denomination. What could that deeper common ground be?” she asked later. “The most common ground among all cultures, we can say, is that we have one common origin, and furthermore that our culture and society consists of families. They are the building blocks, before religion or culture. And societies and cultures are nothing but extensions of the families of which they consist,” she explained.
“Also very importantly, each culture is based on traditions that are passed down from generation to generation, so, for that, what is the next most important is language. But my sense is that English actually might not be the final language that will be adopted worldwide to facilitate harmony and peace among all nations and cultures. We need a universal language that can reach people’s hearts. Any ideas? Music, art, and love are the languages of the heart,” she observed.
Reverend Selle concluded her talk with three recommendations:
“First, let’s make an effort to go beyond the walls of our own culture and seek to understand and learn about other cultures through something like this event today or by visiting another country, eating their food and, if possible, learning another language.
“Second, let’s also think about our most common ground as humans who have been created by a common Creator, who has endowed us with spirit, heart, and soul and given us spiritual values. Therefore, we must learn to see people of other cultures as ‘my’ own family. So when someone is in trouble or in need, I would then feel and think, ‘This is my brother or sister, mother, or father who needs my help.’”
“Third, let’s begin with me and my own family by teaching my children the spiritual values of loyalty, purity, compassion, goodness, and so forth and how to love and care for others through our own example of serving others. America is the best place to practice not just getting along with people from other cultures but truly loving them and caring for them, and breaking the barriers that have been created, mostly in our own minds. In this way, we will be able to create a tapestry of families of one culture, the culture of love and heart, a culture of lasting peace. Let’s start from today.”
Community leader Keiko Burton said she was pleased with this first demonstration and said she already had several reservations for the next event, which is planned for July 17, 2009.
Contributed by Douglas Burton