The Words of the Burton Family
|
|
The Words of the Burton Family |
NEW YORK: This past Friday, Dec. 4, Ambassadors for Peace got a taste of Lovin’ Life Ministries (LLM) on the occasion of the Universal Peace Federation (UPF) Seventh Annual Ambassadors for Peace Awards Banquet. In the evening’s keynote speech, LLM pastor Rev. In Jin Moon (who is also a daughter of Reverend and Mrs. Sun Myung Moon, the founders of UPF) called upon the Ambassadors for Peace to raise up today’s youth to become a true “Generation of Peace.” Speaking to 500 formally-dressed guests in the Grand Ballroom at Manhattan’s historic Manhattan Center, she drew a contrast between a generation that says, “show me the money,” and a generation that wants to help people.
“My job as a mother -- and it’s really all of our jobs -- is to raise a generation of peace, a new generation of young people that are not going to look at the world and say, ‘show me the money,’ but the people who are going to look at the world and say: ‘How can I help? What is my God-given divinity that I have to tap into so that I can leave something beautiful behind? How can I leave my imprint on the world that can benefit thousands and millions of people to come?’ These are the questions that I hope the new Generation of Peace will ask of themselves and I hope that the older generation will be right there to help them and to empower them,” she said.
Reverend Moon also used the occasion of the awards banquet to thank her brother, Dr. Hyun Jin (Preston) Moon, the outgoing co-chairman of UPF, for doing “a phenomenal job thus far of leading the UPF” and congratulated her other brother, Dr. Hyung Jin (Sean) Moon, on his inauguration as chairman on November 18, 2009. “Truly I feel that this new appointment of Dr. Hyung Jin Moon is in line with my Father’s understanding of what a Family is -- a group of people that understand that they belong to the same Parent… In my immediate family, my father and mother have always encouraged and inspired us to work together as a family... With the older brother having done a phenomenal job now it’s time for him to hand over the baton to the younger brother. Now it’s time for [the younger brother] to run with this wonderful organization, UPF, and with all of you Ambassadors for Peace, ” she said.
LLM emcee Mr. David Hunter, who served as emcee for the first portion of the event, engaged the audience from the outset, announcing that he would begin by answering two questions on the mind of every attendee: “Yes this IS a bow tie I’m wearing, and YES, I tied it myself!” With the confidence of a former quarterback, he kept things moving on time.
Guests dined on barbecued kona salmon, rice pilaf and cheese cake, serenaded by 15 pop classics performed by the acclaimed LLM band. According to David Eaton, conductor of the New York City Symphony Orchestra, the band won high praise recently from the managers of the Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas after playing there in October.
After dinner the invitees viewed a nine-minute video featuring snippets from world leaders commenting on UPF’s projects. Speakers on the video included Mrs. Ida Odinga of Kenya, Hon. Jose de Venecia, Jr., of the Philippines, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf of the US, Bishop Abel Muzorewa of Zimbabwe, and Rev. Robert A. Schuller, Jr., of the US.
Dr. Thomas Walsh, Secretary General of the Universal Peace Federation, congratulated that the 45 citizens of New Jersey and New York who newly joined the global community of Ambassadors for Peace that evening. He also read a message of encouragement from Dr. Hyung Jin Moon, the UPF's new International Chairman, who said, "You have joined the world's largest and most diverse network of peace leaders, representing the religious, racial and ethnic diversity of the human family."
In other congratulatory letters sent to the organizers, the Hon. David A. Paterson, Governor of New York, thanked the awardees and the UPF for their "common vision for global peace," a contribution highly valued by the State of New York. Others sending well-wishes included Brooklyn Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke, the New Jersey State Senate and numerous other elected and public officials.
He introduced four Ambassadors for Peace who were honored for excellence in leadership. These included the Hon. Sylvia Hinds-Radix, Administrative Judge for Civil Matters for the New York Supreme Court; Pastor Leonard Smalls of the Imani Baptist Church of Christ, Inc., in East Orange, New Jersey; Ms. Diesa Seidel, founder and director of United Initiatives for Peace; and Dr. Halim Majeed of Queens, an economic-development consultant.
Justice Hinds-Radix was honored for excellence in leadership in the field of women’s rights. She credited her passion for public service and for helping to empower women to the training of her parents in Barbados. “As my father once said, ‘You have to know how to treat the commoner the way you treat the king,’” she explained.
Rev. Smalls, a native of White Plains, New York, was honored for excellence in leadership in the field of religious freedom. Rev. Smalls directed the Philadelphia Urban Coalition of Ex-offenders Training Program, and he has developed and managed a model citywide job-training program for ex-offenders. “I really am here because of the contributions, the caring, the sharing of generations past,” he said, explaining that he had benefited from the work ethic of his great-grandfather in South Carolina, a former slave, as well as his parents, who started businesses in White Plains.
Dr. Majeed, who has served as chief political advisor to President H.D. Hoyte of Guyana and as an administrator at Medgar Evers College, CUNY, was honored for excellence in leadership in the field of human rights. “Rev. In Jin Moon comes at a very unique period in the history of our nation,” he said, “when President Obama, an African-American, has assumed the reins of the administration of the United States of America. Reverend Moon is an Asian-American, and these two leaderships converge in a particular context at this time.”
Ms. Diesa Seidel, a second-generation Unificationist, was honored for excellence in leadership in the field of youth and service work. Ms. Seidel is the Founding Director of United Initiatives for Peace, a nonprofit that promotes higher education, creative recreational programs, and grassroots social reform aimed at empowering girls and young women in 14 countries, including Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, India, Jordan, and Israel. “About eight years ago I did my first service project through Religious Youth Service,” she said, “and that experience completely changed my life so that I made a shift from playing professional sports to service work.”
As with the Lovin’ Life Sunday services that Reverend Moon has directed since April 2009, entertainment for the awards banquet was featured two of Reverend Moon’s own children as performers. This is consistent with the tradition of Reverend Moon’s father, UPF co-founder Rev. Sun Myung Moon, who used to have his children perform for the benefit of members of his church congregation. Her second son, Rexton accompanied himself on piano while belting out a heartfelt rendition of “On the Road,” composed by his mother.
Rev. In Jin Moon’s daughter Arianna and Mr. Julian Kolez, her dance partner from Harvard University’s competitive ballroom dance team, performed a stunningly adroit rhumba and cha-cha to the music of “You Are My Everything,” and “Groove with Me Tonight.” Harvard team dancers Ms. Lou Wang and partner Mr. Tim Li seemed to float over the floor in their waltz routine. The dancers and the band worked their magic to get an alcohol-free crowd on its dancing feet. Many were prepared -- having taken the free Saturday dance classes offered by Lovin’ Life Ministries. With the aplomb of veterans, they swayed and tapped their way through waltz, swing, salsa, tango, American rhumba, and cha-cha.
Contributed by Douglas Burton